holly and yew
and rhododendron
do not like
the light
manners and
flippant quips
of the larch
and birch
we do not welcome
your double
meanings
they say, leaving
the oak to lean
towards his dark
singular justice
without a wise
crack and with his
hanging cap on
John Greening‘s most recent collection is To the War Poets (Carcanet). He is currently editing an edition of Edmund Blunden for Oxford University Press. He is a Fellow of the English Association, has received a Cholmondeley Award and is winner of the Bridport and the TLS Centenary prizes. He lives in Cambridgeshire, UK.