Poems: Bunya & Monkey Puzzle

Books & Poetry

In this week’s Poet’s Corner, Rob Walker of Adelaide experiences two of Gondwana’s ancient conifers from two of its ancient parts: Australia and South America.

Wednesday January 06, 2016 Comments

Comments Print article

The Monkey Puzzle Tree. Photo: Norbet Naget / Wikipedia Commons

I. Bunya

Araucaria bidwillii

When your nuts came down
original Aussies had a real wingding.
A feast-led roadmap to peace.

Fruit bigger than a human head,
signs in public parks
warn the unwary.

Eons earlier flourishing
in your Mesozoic prime
dinosaurs munched

on your prickly parabola
of lime-green leather.

Inside the withered paraboloid
a spiralled wooden ladder,

rungs for even the clumsiest
child to reach for the stars.

II. Monkey Puzzle

Araucaria araucana

The Galapagos tortoise leg trunk
filled an entire front yard
a Thebarton worker’s cottage
lived in perpetual umbrage

the foliage was artificial xmas tree
eleven-months-compressed in storage

in tertiary days a little girl ran across the road
just after the bend and my Vespa brushed so close
a school-case knocked from her hand

the puzzle:
why was I spared killing an innocent girl
by microseconds
or the thickness of a leaf
sharp as a shark’s tooth

spared from opening
a can of spiky worms?

Rob Walker completed a poetry residency at the Adelaide City Library in November. He has taught performing arts at primary school level in Adelaide, and English at high school and adult levels in Japan. He has appeared widely in both print and online poetry outlets in the UK, US and Australia, and is the joint winner of the 2007 and 2009 Newcastle Poetry Prizes, and this year’s Friendly Street Satura Prize. He has published four collections of his poetry, the latest being Tropeland, from which today’s poems come.

Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. A poetry book will be awarded to each contributor.

Make a comment View comment guidelines

Jump to next article

Support local arts journalism

Your support will help us continue the important work of InReview in publishing free professional journalism that celebrates, interrogates and amplifies arts and culture in South Australia.

Donate Here

Comments

Show comments

Will my comment be published? Read the guidelines.

. You are free to republish the text and graphics contained in this article online and in print, on the condition that you follow our republishing guidelines.

You must attribute the author and note prominently that the article was originally published by InReview. You must also inlude a link to InReview. Please note that images are not generally included in this creative commons licence as in most cases we are not the copyright owner. However, if the image has an InReview photographer credit or is marked as “supplied”, you are free to republish it with the appropriate credits.

We recommend you set the canonical link of this content to https://inreview.com.au/inreview/books-and-poetry/2016/01/06/poems-bunya-monkey-puzzle/ to insure that your SEO is not penalised.

<h1>Poems: Bunya & Monkey Puzzle</h1>

<p><p>In this week’s Poet’s Corner, Rob Walker of Adelaide experiences two of Gondwana’s ancient conifers from two of its ancient parts: Australia and South America.</p>
</p>
																		<address><a href="https://inreview.com.au/contributors/compiled-by-john-miles/" class="author">Compiled by John Miles</a></address>
											
							<h2><a href="#i-bunya" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="i-bunya"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>I. Bunya</h2>
<h3><a href="#araucaria-bidwillii" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="araucaria-bidwillii"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><em>Araucaria bidwillii</em></h3>
<pre style="font-family: breve; font-size: 1.125em;">When your nuts came down
original Aussies had a real wingding.
A feast-led roadmap to peace.

Fruit bigger than a human head,
signs in public parks
warn the unwary.

Eons earlier flourishing
in your Mesozoic prime
dinosaurs munched

on your prickly parabola
of lime-green leather.

Inside the withered paraboloid
a spiralled wooden ladder,

rungs for even the clumsiest
child to reach for the stars.</pre>
<h2><a href="#ii-monkey-puzzle" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="ii-monkey-puzzle"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a>II. Monkey Puzzle</h2>
<h3><a href="#araucaria-araucana" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="araucaria-araucana"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><em>Araucaria araucana</em></h3>
<pre style="font-family: breve; font-size: 1.125em;">The Galapagos tortoise leg trunk
filled an entire front yard
a Thebarton worker’s cottage
lived in perpetual umbrage

the foliage was artificial xmas tree
eleven-months-compressed in storage

in tertiary days a little girl ran across the road
just after the bend and my Vespa brushed so close
a school-case knocked from her hand

the puzzle:
why was I spared killing an innocent girl
by microseconds
or the thickness of a leaf
sharp as a shark’s tooth

spared from opening
a can of spiky worms?</pre>
<p><em>Rob Walker completed a poetry residency at the Adelaide City Library in November. He has taught performing arts at primary school level in Adelaide, and English at high school and adult levels in Japan. He has appeared widely in both print and online poetry outlets in the UK, US and Australia, and is the joint winner of the 2007 and 2009 Newcastle Poetry Prizes, and <a href="http://indaily.com.au/arts-and-culture/2015/09/07/struggles-inspire-prize-winning-poetry/">this year’s Friendly Street Satura Prize</a>. He has published four collections of his poetry, the latest being Tropeland, from which today’s poems come.</em></p>
<h5><a href="#readers-original-and-unpublished-poems-of-up-to-40-lines-can-be-emailed-with-postal-address-to-poetscornersolsticemedia-com-au-a-poetry-book-will-be-awarded-to-each-contributor" aria-hidden="true" class="aal_anchor" id="readers-original-and-unpublished-poems-of-up-to-40-lines-can-be-emailed-with-postal-address-to-poetscornersolsticemedia-com-au-a-poetry-book-will-be-awarded-to-each-contributor"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="aal_svg" height="16" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 16 16" width="16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M4 9h1v1H4c-1.5 0-3-1.69-3-3.5S2.55 3 4 3h4c1.45 0 3 1.69 3 3.5 0 1.41-.91 2.72-2 3.25V8.59c.58-.45 1-1.27 1-2.09C10 5.22 8.98 4 8 4H4c-.98 0-2 1.22-2 2.5S3 9 4 9zm9-3h-1v1h1c1 0 2 1.22 2 2.5S13.98 12 13 12H9c-.98 0-2-1.22-2-2.5 0-.83.42-1.64 1-2.09V6.25c-1.09.53-2 1.84-2 3.25C6 11.31 7.55 13 9 13h4c1.45 0 3-1.69 3-3.5S14.5 6 13 6z"></path></svg></a><em>Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. A poetry book will be awarded to each contributor.</em></h5>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
							<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://inreview.com.au" target=_blank  rel="canonical">InReview</a> under a Creative Commons licence. Read the <a href="https://inreview.com.au/inreview/books-and-poetry/2016/01/06/poems-bunya-monkey-puzzle/" target=_blank  rel="canonical">original article</a>.</p>
							<link href="https://inreview.com.au/inreview/books-and-poetry/2016/01/06/poems-bunya-monkey-puzzle/" rel="canonical">

<p><a href="https://inreview.com.au" target="_blank" rel="noopener">InReview</a> is an open access, non-profit arts and culture journalism project. Readers can <a href="https://artists.australianculturalfund.org.au/s/project/a2E9q0000008PVN/inreview-sa-20222023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">support our work with a donation</a>. Subscribe to InReview’s free weekly newsletter <a href="https://inreview.com.au/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.</p>
							<img src="https://inreview.com.au/pixel2.png?cc_article=poems-bunya-monkey-puzzle" width="1" height="1">

Copied to Clipboard