And a Cob-Nut – A Poem

William Henry Hunt’s nickname was “Bird’s Nest Hunt”, because he painted a few nests and speckled eggs in his time. Hunt was a prolific painter, contributing nearly 800 works to 19th-century exhibitions of the Society of Painters in Water Colours.

There’s a gorgeous amount of detail in Apple, Grapes and a Cob-Nut. You can zoom in if you click the link in the caption below.

As for the cobnut, a cultivated hazelnut, there’s a nice photograph and information here, as well as a recipe for a cobnut cake. More of my art-inspired poetry here. This is free verse.

And a Cob-Nut

By the bus stop near the park
an apple, grapes and a cobnut
lay in the dirt, rotting.
The sound of children’s voices,
a bouncing ball.
Perhaps the food merely fell
from a child’s lunchbox.
Or the child emptied it
out on dirt while kicking
stones on the path home,
resentful at not being allowed
to go to the park.
Or a child hiding fresh fruit
because they’d filled
up on candy, and couldn’t trade
an apple, grapes and a cobnut.
Or perhaps in the park
there was a child in distress,
whose lunchbox was wrenched
away and inspected and dumped
in the dirt, the rest stolen.
Or if an apple, grapes
and a cobnut had fallen
like so many universal
riddles from the sky.

©elsp 2026

You could very easily use cobnuts with this easy warm bacon-dressing salad, or sprinkle them over stewed rhubarb and yoghurt.