August 19: In the woods

I was up on Ragged Mountain today helping with some boundary work on a property Coastal Mountains Land Trust hopes to conserve. Indian Pipe (or Ghost Plant), a parasitic flower often associated with beech trees and now in bloom, was scattered throughout the forest understory.

Mountain understory--
dropped acorns and ghost plants
haunt last year's beech leaves.

October 21: Beechnuts

Split beechnut husks
piled along the path.
What will get me through winter?

April 10: Beech leaves

I thought at first it was a flowering tree shining in the forest as I drove back roads to Belfast, but it was a beech tree still holding on to last year's pale leaves, which reflected the morning light.

Last year's leaves still shiver
on the spring beech.
Hard to let go of the past.