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| Cover Photo: Rebekah “Tiki” Leff |
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In Depth of Field, his second poetry collection, David Leff ups the ante, allowing us ever more deeply into his private world: his sorrows, his joys, and his yearning. The book portrays a paradise that is both lost and rediscovered: in the midst of a synthetic civilization, the poet finds his havens in the natural world, in history, in relics of the past. And that is only half the story: the other half is told by Leff’s photography. The poems in Depth of Field are accompanied by splendid photos that extend and illuminate the words they join. The addition of one art to another creates a magnificent sum. Early readers of the book have extolled its poetry and photography. A. Walter Kendra, Associate Professor of Arts Emeritus at Central Connecticut State University, writes as follows: “David Leff is a naturalist and lover of history. His poems and visual images combine to create a tapestry rich with the patina of life and time. In Depth of Field, he has created a touching and sensitive work deeply in tune with the self and the sense of place. Each photograph and poem invites us on a personal journey.” And this from Marilyn Johnston, herself a splendid poet and the author of two recent collections: “In Depth of Field, David Leff’s startling framing and unusual perspectives work magic. His poems and pictures are equally expressive of seasons of elegy (both social and private) and ‘seasons of confounding hope.’ This book will lift your heart and open your eyes!”
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Cover Photograph: David K.
Leff |
David K. Leff is a freelance writer from Collinsville, Connecticut. His
essays, fiction, and photographs have appeared in newspapers and magazines;
and his non-fiction work, The Last Undiscovered Place, a Connecticut
Book Award finalist, was published by the University of Virginia Press in
2004. His first volume of poems was released by Antrim House in 2008. A
second non-fiction work, Deep Travel: in Thoreau’s Wake on the Concord
and Merrimack, appeared in 2009 from the University of Iowa Press.
He is a member of the Hartford Courant Place Board of Contributors
and has been a newspaper columnist.
Leff is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law and was a Deputy Commissioner with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection until his retirement in 2006. Earlier, he worked as a researcher and legal advisor for the Connecticut General Assembly’s Environment Committee. He currently sits on the boards of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association and Audubon Connecticut. A member of the Collinsville Historic District Commission, Leff spent over two decades as its chairman. He is a veteran volunteer firefighter and has been a maple sugar maker, serving on the board of directors of the Connecticut Maple Syrup Producer’s Association. He is also a volunteer high school tutor and a Boy Scout merit badge counselor. In addition to being an avid hiker, canoeist, and fisherman, Leff enjoys hunting, gardening, and cross-country skiing. He is the father of two children on the cusp of adulthood.
To read more about David Leff and his poems, essays and other writings, visit his website: www.davidkleff.com.
Click here to read a sample from Depth of Field
Click here to view upcoming events.
Click here to read ancillary material in the Seminar Room.
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