From the collection, Blue Marble Gazetter
Nearly one-third of the wild birds in the United States and Canada have vanished since 1970. —Fitzpatrick & Marra, The New York Times, 9/19/2019 I awaken to ghost birds, my ears ringing with dawn choruses past— robins, finches, warblers, thrushes, and wrens erupting in melodies so loud and full I could not think, my mind carried on a freshet of sound. This morning is no silent spring, but a season muffled, slowly choked of breath, a boisterous choir fading to an ensemble of sweet chirps and whistles, not the wall of sound I heard as a boy. Connecting earth, air and water, wings and hollow bones morph to totems, portents. Is there freedom or courage without eagles, mystery absent owls peering into darkness, peace and healing minus the grace of cranes? I need no homing pigeons when hushed birdsong augurs anxiety and awe, messages me on the planet’s health. Must every feathered thing be a canary, every backyard, street corner and hilltop a coal mine?
David K. Leff is an award-winning poet and essayist, and former deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. He is the Canton, Connecticut poet laureate, deputy town historian, and town meeting moderator. He was a volunteer firefighter for 26 years.
In 2016 and 2017 David was appointed by the National Park Service to serve as poet-in-residence for the New England National Scenic Trail (NET). He has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize, and has twice been a finalist in the Connecticut Book Awards. David has received two silver medals from the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY), and was grand prize short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. His work has appeared in anthologies, newspapers such as the Hartford Courant, and magazines including Appalachia and Yankee.
The author of seven nonfiction books, three volumes of poetry, and two novels in verse, David’s work focuses on the connection of people to their communities and the natural environment. He often explores commonplace elements of the world around us that have hidden meanings and unusual links to each other.
David has been the book review editor of Connecticut Woodlands, the quarterly magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association and is now poetry editor. He is a staff writer for The Wayfarer Magazine.
David’s papers are located at the Special Collections and University Archives, UMass/Amherst. View his work at www.davidkleff.com
