Poetry grows in trees as legacy forest takes root

A GROWING legacy is being created in the heart of Birmingham to remember city poet Benjamin Zephaniah.

- JOSHUA NEICHO News Reporter

The trees - a mixture of fruit and other species chosen for their blossom or autumn foliage - were planted in Newtown’s Burbury Park during the winter to create what will grow into The Zephaniah Forest, in memory of the nature-loving poet and writer of Trees Please, who died aged 65 in December 2023.

Scores of poems will be attached to the growing trees, all of them crafted by winners of a ‘Trees Please, Poetry Please?’ writing competition judged by Zephaniah’s youngest brother David Springer, poet, performer and filmmaker Zakariye, and Charley McDermott of charity Birmingham Tree People, which is co-ordinating the Zephaniah Forest project.