David K. Leff, Essayist, Poet, Lecturer

Doors (poem)

I ducked into the doorway of a church
glorious in granite and stained glass
where a dwindled congregation echoed
in the vast vault of the sanctuary, a thin
chorus rising with the warmth of breath.

I popped the rotten, paint-spattered hatch
at the old textile mill and found rusted
machines layered in dust, pigeon dung,
and silence as if the workers had paused
for the noon whistle and never returned.

I turned the lock at home feeling you missing
from me like cold, hunger, an empty glass.
The bed was awash in space, the fridge
crowded with waiting leftovers.  I ached
to share hopes, to make something useful, but

I could never find the right door.

(From Tinker's Damn, Hombound Publications, 2013)

Stones (poem)

Pebbles are miraculous.
                       Josef Albers

Something in sea-smoothed stones longs for my hand—
restless ocean offspring absorbing stress like heat,
like moisture.  Hours dissolve searching for promising
colors, patterns and shapes revealing the planet’s mysteries.

Teetering at the surf’s cobbled edge, waves draw stones
to shore, withdrawing them again, endlessly
chattering like muffled applause or distant firecrackers
celebrating the polish of blind persistence.

Rocks bulging in pockets, I walk awkwardly along
the sand, weighted with worthless treasures striped
and swirled, banded, stippled with soft hued crystals
of ancient violence.  I’m balanced with ballast.

(from Tinker's Damn, Homebound Publications, 2013)

The Resounding Silence of Bells

Bells have long been expected to alert listeners that something is happening.  Yet they are frequently valued not only for their sound, but as quiet icons of remembrance.  Silent bells can ring loudly in our imaginations.

Historically, and into the present, bells have called people to worship or public meetings.  They’ve warned of fires and other emergencies, and announced weddings and funerals.  They’ve called us to visitors at the door or on the phone and awakened us from sleep.  But in these days of electronically produced buzzers, beepers and ringtones, we hear bells less and see them more.  Once hidden in steeples and mechanisms, they are increasingly incorporated into monuments dotting Connecticut’s landscape.