Silky Oak
Trophy parts.
The dismembered:
thud-echoes to
amber litter to
vanished
bright, curved hands, tumbling bright
cleaved loose from timber:
limb
by limb
milled,
framing up the south-east corner
and beyond.
Rosenstengel’s pin-up
each torso measured twice,
sawn and fashioned into function:
weighing down
the curled-up corners
of hot-box bedrooms
clinging steadfast
to dwellings of timber and tin
window joinery and panels.
Grevillea robusta
her resilience, a force
across drought seasons:
holding fast
to loam and basalt
decades before legislators
slowed axes
growing quietly,
bearing relaxed thicknesses
of honey coils,
ready for bees.
Beyond a firebreak,
appraised
by new craftsmen
oceans distant
in Larrivee’s workshops
the length of her body
worked carefully
to fine, fluid
acoustic shells:
strummed.