A Portrait of Birches

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Unusually for a poetry collection, we take a little picture break now. The photo above was taken in May 2023, about four months after a large section of the garden wall came crashing down due to the pressure exerted upon its subterranean rows by the roots of the beautiful birch trees.

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While residents of the property to the left of the picture did nothing to address the question of what ought to be done to re-establish the boundary between buildings, residents of the property to the right were for some time engaged in a salvage mission. As many bricks as possible were gathered, separated, cleaned and stored, with a view to their reuse. It had been hoped that a fence could be constructed in place of the former wall, but this was not approved by the council as the property to the left is listed and certain rules apply.

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Sadly, those rules meant that, on a horrendous Monday morning in September 2024, all the birches were chopped down to make room for the construction of a new wall. I wept at the time and today, almost 2 years later, I still feel pain for the loss. My next poem describes what I term their execution.

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Next: The Execution