The pencil tree
I want a pencil tree,
its black heart
writing words
of wind and rain,
winter stillness
and summer flourish.
I want a pencil tree,
but not that one.
That one has
the pimples
of illness
all over
its grey hide,
ready to burst
and spread death
to all
the other trees
in the grove.
Cut it down.
Dig it up.
Burn it.
Start again.
Colin Will (@colindwill) is a poet and publisher living in Dunbar. His new collection of haibun, The Book of Ways, has just been published by Red Squirrel Press. www.colinwill.co.uk