#100poeticanswers 1: Is Fruit The Poop Of Trees?

So, here we go again.
This year, poems for kids, based on questions asked by kids.

I’m hoping to develop my writing-for-children voice, so not so much smut and politics this year. Possibly. Possibly more, who knows?

If your kid asks you a funny or profound or mundane or just plain daft question, please do let me know in comments and I will try and make a poem out of it.
Today’s poem is for Finn, who asked “Is fruit the poop of trees?”

You know about poop 

– That it’s not good to eat

(Unless you’re a bug 

Who likes that sort of treat)

You know about fruit 

And you know it tastes yummy

You wouldn’t put poop

From a tree in your tummy!

So fruit isn’t tree poop.

It’s… can you guess, maybe?

Well, fruit is the way

That a tree has a baby!

But trees don’t have babies

Like Mommy had you

They need help from the bees

And the animals, too:

The tree makes some flowers

That smell very sweet

And bees buzz around

To find something to eat

•  

And from flower to flower

A thousand bees swarm

And the pollen gets mixed

And a new tree is born

But it’s only a seed

And it’s stuck to the twig!

So the tree wraps it up

And it starts to get big.

Some trees make apples 

And some trees make peaches 

But what is important

Is who the fruit reaches.

Maybe a horse 

finds an apple to munch

Or a robin has 24 

cherries for lunch

•  

Or a kid just like you 

eats a plum or a pear

But each fruit has a seed

With a new tree in there

If the seed is too big

We can throw it away 

But some animals eat them

And that is ok

And the seed or the stone

Or the pit or the nut

Goes right through the body

And out of the butt!

We poop in the toilet

Where no trees are found

But an animal’s poop

Tends to land on the ground

And it’s soft and it’s warm

(When a poop first comes out)

Just right for a seed

To get ready to sprout!

So is fruit poop from trees?

Well, the answer is no;

But an animal’s poop

Can help baby trees grow!