Description Karri and Tingle
The Tingle?s bark tangles into burls and knobs,
An eddying stream of living wood, branching
Into sky-fed tributaries. The Karri: an unruffled
Surface of a lake, reflecting a sky cloud-swirled
As mother-of-pearl.
The Tingle is also a cave, walled and roofed
In charcoal, lit through fissures; the twist
Of its trunk is sinuous as a python climbing.
The Karri: a tall and graceful ghost
Letting down her hair.
The bole of the Tingle is an ogling man
With one eyebrow bulging, as though stung
By hornets. The Karri is faceless,
Detached. She contemplates
The art of grace.
The Tingle is buttressed as a gothic choir,
And above it, a branching spire, with firetails
In the belfry. The Karri has dispensed
With struts and stays: throws out her lissom
Arms and dances.
Poem by Giles Watson, 2011. The Karri and the Tingle are eucalyptus trees which dominate the forests around Walpole, in the south-west of Australia. The Tingle grows to a height of 60 metres, with a girth of 16 metres, and has a life-span of 400 years. The base of the trunk is heavily buttressed, and is commonly hollowed out by fire without killing the tree. The Karri has a thinner, more graceful trunk with no buttressing, has a characteristic mottled, silver-grey bark, and grows to a height of 90 metres. Together, they create a habitat which provides for an enormous diversity of other species.
