Lichen University - Sacrificed Poem #2
Images taken from a stroll in near Oval, London SE11. Images: Zena Edwards
I stumbled across a community cove near the Oval Cricket Grounds. It has narrow, winding paths that open out into unexpected seating areas, a small overgrown pond, that might not be “beautiful” but is full of hidden biodiversity, and a children's play area. It was like stepping into an alternate universe.
Paying attention and there are little things around that have been created, like this mosaic on the wall leading into the garden's office. The Garden office had a second exit which took you off the busy main road at the Oval Curve which the garden called you from, leading to a quiet mansion block, 1950’s style. This would have been all the residents living there would have had back then. And close by is a quiet residential local cafe.
The poem arrived after I spent a little time in this garden, and was walking out to make my way back into the center of London. It was as I was walking I noticed tree that had been cut down next to another tree - for arboreal local city council maintenance. However, judging by the tree right next to it, it was a beautiful member of this city-tree community. I’m not going to know why it was cut, but space was created for something magical to grow in its place.
Teeming with ant, bug and beetle life, this stump provided a fecund foundation for Turkey Tail Mushroom (Trametes versicolor) and lichen to flourish. The colour and texture began to pop the more I observed it. As my eyes relaxed and refocused, the dimensionality of layers of mushroom growth, of lichen and moss coated tree rings invoked a poem.
The new growth of ivy, holly and evergreen pine shrubs got me thinking about how plant life lives alongside each other and the kind of conversations they are having below ground, among the dying roots of this tree.
The poem speaks of the gift of decay and nature’s building blocks.
#NateurePersistsNewPerspective
~ Zena ~
Sacrified
Lichen's university
Vanilla, parchment, linen, ivory
Microcosm city, towering
Fungi, the clipping sonic, knitting fibre with wood, mossy, intricate filigree, teeming
Pill bug, millipede, crane larvae, moss midge fly
From here, a stump navigated by ivy
Fallen in the battle with borough
Aborial maintenance. Housing association mansions want gardens, when a tree is eyed
as a chainsaw's meal, the garden's paths
will have chip wood in wet January,
The chopped twin, "you or me?", asked
Its standing brother tree. "I have no choice, but
I'll have a new voice,
For a new local tiny eco-city."
Written by Zena Edwards