David K. Leff, Essayist, Poet, Lecturer

Social Register Tree (New England Trail Haibun)

Just below the massive ledges of Mt. Norwottock’s Horse Caves, the forest suddenly goes from oak to beech. Almost immediately, the trail passes a large specimen tattooed with graffiti carved in its smooth, smoke gray bark. Like an Egyptian obelisk busy with hieroglyphs, the columnar trunk is filled with initials, numerals, geometrics, and even a smiley face. Passers by know that Leo, Satch, John and many others were here. Some have left only cryptic initials like C.B, A.F., and D.T.. Encircled by cupid’s sign, I wondered if R.G. + D.S. or Desi + Jay were still an item, or whether these hearts have been broken. Some incisions look as if they were made yesterday, others are weathered, grown swollen and distorted as the tree got larger and healed.

What is it about beech trunks that present a blank page urging people to find a sharp tool and leave their mark? Common in cemeteries, along streets, and in urban parks, such inscrutable histories seem odd where people profess to get away from what they left behind. In an age where words and symbols can go instantly around the globe and seemingly last forever, what is it about chiseling into the flesh of a tree that heightens messages? Is it vandalism or my own voyeuristic curiosity that annoys me most?

silent messengers
names and dates carved in beech bark
readers never known

(Haibun is a marriage of prose and haiku.  It was first practiced by seventeenth-century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho who perfected the form in a journal he kept on a trip to the remote regions of northern Japan. Gary Snyder, James Merrill, and Jack Kerouac are among American interpreters of the genre.  Haibun best expresses the spirit of the New England Trail because it combines clear-eyed prose descriptions of people, objects and places along with poetry that awakens the imagination.  To travel the entire New England Trail with 90 haibun go to https://www.ctwoodlands.org/blue-blazed-hiking-trails/half-million-footsteps-journey-through-poetry-the-new-england-trail)

The New England National Scenic Trail, a unit of the National Park Service, runs 215 miles from Guilford, Connecticut to the Massachusetts/ New Hampshire border.  The trail is maintained by volunteers of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association in Connecticut and the Appalachian Mountain Club in Massachusetts.  For more go to https://newenglandtrail.org/

Homeward Bound with Henry: Remembering Walden on the 201st Anniversary of Thoreau's Birth

Under an overcast November sky layered with ragged clouds in several shades of gray, my wife Mary and I took a counterclockwise walk around Walden Pond. Oaks were in full metallic bloom, with leaves of bright gold, bronze and copper that glowed despite the flat light. They appeared especially glorious as we looked across the water to the high banked south shore where they blazed against the soft, airbrushed green of white pines.

At this late date the wide public beach was empty, although a man in a wetsuit was backstroking across the pond. Soon after leaving the sandy area, we came upon a granite post incised with an arrow and the words “To Site of Thoreau’s Hut.” Having made the pilgrimage many times over four decades I hardly noticed the monument. Continuing along the path, we marveled at the foliage and the pond’s reflection of shifting clouds as they floated over the mirrored colors of overhanging branches.

Hiker's Orchid (New England Trail Haibun)

Glowing on Beseck ridge like rosy lantern mantles in oak and pine shadows, lady slippers are no hiking boots. But the delicate, purple veined pink pouch above a pair of oval ribbed leaves stops the most determined lug-soled trampers in their tracks. Growing singly or in clumps, these ethereal blooms seem too beautiful, too frail to be real. They never fail to lift my heart.

With a puffed-out petal appearing like the toe of a shoe, they’re called moccasin flower after the footwear of Natives, and squirrel sneakers for growing where the bushytailed creatures antically collect acorns. But they’d be too soft and silky for hiking, even if they came in my size. Despite their seeming fragility, these orchids grow along woods roads and in patches of humus on mountain slopes enduring the cold, wind, and rain that keeps me and my boots indoors. These shoes won’t walk, but stand their ground.

no shoe for hikers
too small and dainty for trails
perfect fit for eyes

(Haibun is a marriage of prose and haiku.  It was first practiced by seventeenth-century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho who perfected the form in a journal he kept on a trip to the remote regions of northern Japan. Gary Snyder, James Merrill, and Jack Kerouac are among American interpreters of the genre.  Haibun best expresses the spirit of the New England Trail because it combines clear-eyed prose descriptions of people, objects and places along with poetry that awakens the imagination.  To travel the entire New England Trail with 90 haibun go to https://www.ctwoodlands.org/blue-blazed-hiking-trails/half-million-footsteps-journey-through-poetry-the-new-england-trail)

The New England National Scenic Trail, a unit of the National Park Service, runs 215 miles from Guilford, Connecticut to the Massachusetts/ New Hampshire border.  The trail is maintained by volunteers of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association in Connecticut and the Appalachian Mountain Club in Massachusetts.  For more go to https://newenglandtrail.org/