or 'a log is never simply a log'.
will you swindle a sweeter prospect.
As a tree is already a metaphor.
As you carve your initials into the trunk.
As though you ever had a choice.
As a delicacy paired with fennel and cabbage.
As you sniff out truffles in the soil.
As a shortcut is a side of ham.
As green wood burns reluctantly.
As a wound, trying to close.
As a promise supposes intention.
As a hole is known by what it doesn't have.
As a tree takes priority over your idea of it.
Aden Rolfe is a Sydney-based writer. His debut poetry and essay collection, False Nostalgia, received the 2017 Mary Gilmore Award and was named by Mascara the best avant-garde poetry book of 2016. His poetry has been published in the Age, Best Australian Poems, Overland and Cordite.