Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.
Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2025: The Dictator Expounds on the Cultivation of Fruit Trees
by Nairn Kennedy
Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2025: The Dictator Expounds on the Cultivation of Fruit Trees
Before they take you on as gardener,
cultivate the trees with care, seek
their support, eat the fruit they give,
drink the juice to make you strong.
When you get the job, patrol the orchard,
wave the loppers, brandish secateurs
and saws, just enough
to make them think.
Keep them neat. Trim off extra growth,
abolish adventitious shoots, chop
whatever spoils the uniformity
of all your ordered rows.
If you dislike lemons, rip
them off, but never compost them
until they’re squeezed down
to the last pip.
Obstinate trees must go.
Keep an axe at all times
under the bed. Let Sycamore Gap
be your friend.
Brick walls and barbed wire
will keep the orchard free
from windblown wildflower seeds
and stop the trees from wandering.
I’m sorry to have left so suddenly
for Cuba, and I assure you that my mansion,
private plane and yacht are necessary
for social, leisure and alcoholic purposes.
I enjoyed the gardening while it lasted
but if I ever had to do it again,
I’d remember that chopping off the flowers
is in the end a fruitless enterprise.
A special thank you to our WordView 2025 poets.
Hear from some our winners this year on what the Archive and winning has meant to them:
"I feel deeply grateful to be taking part in the chorus of voices honoured by PAN Worldwide 2025. Leonard Cohen famously sang that “every heart to love will come, but like a refugee.” For me, the same might be said of poetry. I came to the writing of it late, and thank The Poetry Archive for providing the encouragement to continue being brave in sharing it." - Michelle Robin Visser.
"I think it shows the importance of live spoken word to share poetry as equally as the printed word for some audiences." - Steve Harrison.
"Being part of the PAN Worldwide 2025 collection alongside 17 incredible poets from across the globe is both an honour and a reminder of the unifying power of poetry. Moving forward, I think this experience will stay with me, it has encouraged me to continue writing with honesty and openness, and to remember that my voice is part of something much larger than myself." - Panya Banjoko.
See the collectionWatch the full Wordview 2025 playlist