page 12

Catalogue

“Now is the time for planting shrubs.”
Shall I plant shrubs? ‘Shrubs’ is an ugly word!
When one says “shrubs,” I think of suburbs,
Damp villas, desert isles, detective stories.

(‘Bank’ is an ugly word——and yet one said
‘I know a bank where the wild thyme grows.’)

Come, let me read this catalogue of shrubs,
And choose out those with lovely-sounding names.
Adenandra uniflora, Aloysia Citriodora,
Iochroma Tubulosa, Podalyria Grandiflora,
Melaleuca, Santolina, Lasiandra,
Cantua, Cassia, Felecia, Luculia,
Daphne…
Shrubs. I am planting shrubs.