By The Landlord
“Be like seeds; do not see dirt thrown at you as your enemy, but as ground to grow … A seed is a forest inside out.” – Matshona Dhliwayo
"If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me." – William Shakespeare, Macbeth
“My kind of composing is more like the work of a gardener. The gardener takes his seeds and scatters them, knowing what he is planting but not quite what will grow where and when - and he won't necessarily be able to reproduce it again afterwards either." – Brian Eno
"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?" – Monty Python and the Holy Grail
What's a nut? It's a fruit, a fruit with a shell,
and inside that shell there's an edible kernel.
Some nuts are seeds, though some seeds aren't nuts.
But let's not split hairs, just shells, as what's
key for this topic – they're served up bars.
Bars? Yes bars have wrappers, but ours
come in flavours, some bitter, some sweet,
in a structure of melody, words, and a beat,
each note a texture, each verse a flavour,
mentioned in lyrics – to pick out and savour.
Nuts? They're the true Xmas crackers, of hard-soft crunch,
clustered from tiny, to a big hairy bunch.
Tough and protected, packed with life's mission.
Healthy fats, fibres, selenium, nutrition.
Seeds, when scattered, see ground, light, then grab,
they're the weightlifting scourge of the pavement slab.
Pushy, sprouty, silently shouty, all small miracles,
Many stashed treasures of squirrelly squirrels,
Seeds are amazing, they have so much clout,
”Seeds are a forest turned inside out."
Ground-up in cooking, to cake decoration
The lesser sung fruit of taste celebration,
Almond to acorn, beech to Brazil,
The bean is a seed in a coffee grind mill.
Coconuts? Biggest in world production,
from shell down to oil, all-healthy function.
Chestnuts from China, Japan, sour to sweet,
Cashews, or hazels from Chile's a treat,
Egusi? Squash, melon, pumpkin seeds?
All meet our nutritional needs.
Colocynth, pepita, malabar gourd,
strange shapes and sizes, easily stored.
Pecan to peanut, or dance Macadamia!
Paradise, pine, pili, shea and kola,
All types of Mamoncilio, and ogbono?
Mongongo, candlenut, pistachio,
All sorts of species could make the cut,
Ginkgo to Gabon, karukas to walnut,
True forms to drupes that come with a pit,
If edible, a nut or a seed, then that's it.
Nut-seed metaphors are also permitted
if suitably shown when lyrics submitted,
but staying on topic, the less electables
are what comes with bolts, or slang for testicles.
Some seeds and nuts can also be musical
in instruments that make all forms of rattle,
And the classic clip-clop coming of horse
with coconut shells, shown here of course,
in that timeless discussion in that brilliant tale
of Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
Seeds and nuts in culture are all about growth,
As symbols of fertility and festivals, or both,
Vast works of architecture in the name of art
Have included seeds at their very heart.
Thomas Heatherwick's 2010 Shanghai expo
A Cathedral of Seeds, came in rods, all aglow.
At Tate Modern Ai WeiWei's symbolic needs
came with 100m porcelain handmade sunflower seeds
scattered on the floor in a huge, great display.
Shame some punters nicked ‘em, to sell on, on eBay.
Ai WeiWei with some of his 100 million handmade porcelain painted sunflower seeds
But that’s enough for now, ground-sown foundation
I hope to send you nuts in music inspiration.
And this week's guest guru, to crack jokes and thank ya,
Is the terrific and witty TatankaYotanka!
Please place your nominations in the usual place below.
Justify your choices to help decisions flow.
Deadline on Monday – 23.00 UK time expected.
May suggestions entertain, and even be accepted!
Then puns will commence when we ring that bell …
That’s it, then – all wrapped in a nutshell.
Tasty
Ed’s note: A shame that this one’s so good, and would perfectly suit,
But picked twice previously, for songs about ‘futility’ and ‘fruit’:
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