The Zephaniah Forest tree planting is complete! In an ultimate ceremony in memory of Benjamin Zephaniah, the winning poets of Trees Please, Poetry Please? will read their submissions, and adorn the 65 trees with the 65 poems to create a physical Zephaniah Poetree Trail. This is addition to the poems being documented online using TreePlotter (where we log and create Tree Trails and survey data), and eventually on the website with text and image updates of each tree.
We will meet in Burbury Park, Newtown, at the first Farm Street entrance, at midday on 19th April – one week after Benjamin Zephaniah Day 12th April – to celebrate the intermingling of nature and arts, dressing Benjamin’s trees with beautiful dedicated poetree. We’ll begin from the first tree that was planted by Qian Zephaniah, through to the final 65th tree planted by his family, friends, community, and poets. Benjamin and his family lived on Farm Street when he was a child, so we will be able to retrace steps that he has taken many years before.
Three poets from Walsall are amongst those taking part in this living memorial, namely Phil Buckley, Gerald Kells and Ryan Kenny who hosts Voices From The Fountain at The Fountain in Lopwer Forster Street, Walsall each month.
Gerald Kells said:
"I am enormously proud that one of my poems has been chosen to decorate one of the trees in the Zephaniah Forest. I was overjoyed to go to Burbury Park in February and help plant a tree and meet some of Benjamin’s friends and relatives. I cannot think of a greater honour than having my work associated with such a wonderful poet and advocate for the great people of the West Midlands."
The poems will be laminated and tied to the trees, so this temporary, non-invasive method of display doesn't disturb or damage the trees. Therefore, we hope the wonderful poets will return to replace their poems when they are worn. Alongside the Burbury Park Community Forum and Birmingham Empowerment Forum caring for the orchard, we want to encourage the community and those involved with this project to come back, ensuring the trees are healthy, and the forest is thriving for Benjamin.
This project has been crowdfunded through Spacehive, sponsored by Trees for Cities, Veolia, Birmingham City Council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund with West Midlands Combined Authority and the UK Government, and is in partnership with the Benjamin Zephaniah Family Legacy Group. We wholeheartedly thank every group and individual that has contributed to Benjamin’s legacy mini forest in Newtown (a full list of sponsors will also be available on our website soon); through your donations, time, and support, Benjamin’s legacy will last another 65 years, and another, and another.
See the comment section for the full list of winning poets. See The Zephaniah Forest Poetree Trail on TreePlotter here (work-in-progress): https://uk.pg-cloud.com/BTP/?scenario=BZforest
List of winning poets in no particular order:
Bradley Taylor Nathan Lunt Ryan Kenny Jeremy Monson Jo Essen Maryam Chowdhury Laura Robinson Sajida Chowdhury Akshay Pappala Bhagat Singh Kat Grant Ian Simmonds Dawn Abigail Keith Bracey David Gallivan Maria Aio Nafeesa Hamid Vignesh Venkataramaiah Sindy Stanley Simran Sandhu Agatha Thomas Simon Needle Luke B Hopson Ebelechukwu Aniereobi Aminah Khan Adisa Stephen-Ezeocha Sarah Jacobs Chris Powell Rob Baylis Paarus Faith Barrington Gordon Alex Johl Annie Colloby Arran Potts Katrina Burchell Vivian Yates Fergal Stephen O’Hare Amy Fox Jane Flint Bridgewater Manish Popat-Szabries Simar Hunjan Harpreet Rooprai Gerald Kells Sallyanne Rock Kevin Maier John Nightingale Manisha Dhesi Heidi Downing Robert Leach Daniel Hooks Phil Buckley Bramwell Griffiths Ella Newman Eli Raymond Mohan Kaur Edward Lunt Diya Patel Sadia Khan Pat de Whalley Naroop Sidhu
We look forward to seeing you and hearing the poems at this incredible event!
