Saturday 10 September 2016

growing the economy - Another poem that might be a song by Bill Hannan

Bill Hannan was my English and French teacher at Moreland High School in the early sixties, He has remained an engaged and engaging figure with active interests across local and Australian history, literature, politics and the arts. This is the second verse he has sent me. You can find the first at this link













growing the economy

inspired by talk of economic growth
and curious to know what an economy
might look like as it grew
indeed what it looks like anyway
I was heartened to hear the prime minister
talk about the seeds of growth
and to find moreover that the seeds
could be obtained by applying online
so I sent for some and planted them
in the backyard beside the rhubarb

they did not take long to sprout
insignificant shoots at first
developed into a kind of fruit tree
and for some odd reason I wondered
whether its fruit would be forbidden
was it I wondered a tree of knowledge
reserved only for those who knew already

as it grew I began to think about
whether it should be cut right back
as my sister used to say
the lower limbs did seem to be inferior
to the flourishing growth at the top
but I decided to leave it unequal
to see what it might become

the unevenness became more noticeable
so I thought I should perhaps feed it
I asked my neighbour Scottie
if he had a suitable fertilizer
he gave me some called Topfeed
available from trickledown.com
and emphasised I should apply it
as with water to the plant’s top
which I did and was soon rewarded
with buds and fruit on the top
though the low branches wilted and dropped

so from growing an economy I discovered
that you have to keep feeding the top

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