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