Pondering dead poplar and ways to use it

We had a few hybrid Poplars which I absolutely despised for the invasive nature of their root systems. Luckily the parent trees conveniently expired over the last couple of years, leaving us with opportunity. Here we are, on a small lot in the middle of a very restricitive HOA controlled subdivision-and no way to get rid of these trees without paying bucks to some service, or hauling them to the dump in our inadequate vehicles. Or so I thought once upon a time. Well, nix that! I totally wasted the first one by burning it in my homemade outdoor fireplace last January and swore never again would I burn wood unless it was providing some benefit. If I'm not cooking with it or heating a living space with it, I won't do it! Why haul perfectly decomposeable wood to the dump? Because my so conventional mother thinks its hideous sitting there in a pile? Yes, a rotting pile of wood is hideous. Hmmm, how about using it for Hugelkultur? Wouldn't I just love to! One big problem there is that I have no dirt to put on top of it, and I just hate the thought of running to the local Lowe's and buying bags of dirt. Next idea-Use the remaining logs to hopefully slow the prevalent soil erosion in our largely useless ornamental garden out back:

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I don't think this looks hideous, but it's driving my 64 year old city style conventional OCD mother bonkers.