John Zheng
Mid-October in the Smoky Mountains
We drive to see the fall foliage, but the cascades of color look as dull as a small town’s faded murals. At an overlook, an old couple tell us that it’s because there hasn’t been enough rain during the year. Then, for two days, thunderstorms and lightning confine us to the resort. We sit in balcony chairs, watch dark clouds somersaulting. When the storms slacken, we go to see the Harrisburg Covered Bridge. Each of its cut-out windows frames the same view: lines of rain and wisps of mist slanting in wind.
black sky—
hiding in a
white wooden church
On the day of departure, blue sky returns. We wind west on the Little River George Road, from Gatlinburg to Cades Cove. Along the way, we stop to shoot pictures of everything we can: a watermill churning by a creek, a fenced historic graveyard, a replica of a pioneer log cabin. Above the muddy river, red, gold, yellow, and orange sparkle in the morning sunshine.
photo after photo
the creek gurgling
all night long
About the Author
John Zheng published his first haibun in 2003 and returned to haibun writing in 2011. He lives in Mississippi and edits Journal of Ethnic American Literature.
This is a beautiful Haibun that immediately transported me to the landscape you describe. The haiku at the end makes the whole piece stand. I found i could interpret it two ways.
In one reading it is the creek’s perspective that is emphasized as it witnesses many travelers come and go-offering a sort of continuity-the infinite quality of travelling both in the individual seeking to travel and in the literal sense that with each passing of time, people will come and go!
In another sense, the haiku presents the image of the traveller clicking the images of a creek and each image is so unique and beautiful that s/he continues to click into infinity (if such a thing is possible!) to capture them all, to capture something perfect. I think as a photographer and traveller, who lands up spending hours over one subject, i relate to this haiku a lot.
For me this haiku is stunning because of that.
Shalini, thank you for your comments on my poem. It’s the Thanksgiving break and I sat by the window to reread the CHO issues and found your comments. Thankfully, JZ