Poem of the week: ‘The Afterlife of Lumber’ by Mark Tredinnick

Mark Tredinnick is a poet and essayist noted for his sensitivity to nature and landscape.

“The Afterlife of Lumber”, from his collection Fire Diary (Puncher & Wattmann), sees Tredinnick infuse a relatively mundane act such as burning wood with a spiritual glow. The poet appears twice at the Scottish Poetry Library in April, first alongside fellow Australian Emily Ballou on 4 April, and then leading a workshop on 6 April exploring “poetry and place”. They should act as an appetiser for his new collection, Bluewren Cantos, published later this year.

It smells like honey

the boy says

opening the door

and breathing in

what the furnace

is breathing out.

These offcuts

I’m burning, I guess.

Felled trees redeemed

and lathed and felled

again. Laid waste,

they burn like saints.

And though they smell

like afternoon tea

to a hungry boy,

they smell like the sweet

hereafter to me, late

one day in winter.

You can borrow Fire Diary from the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT. Tel: [phone], e-mail [email protected] or see www.spl.org.uk for details.