On October 18th we will celebrate the release of Tinker’s Damn, a collection of poems by David K. Leff. We invite you to enjoy this poem as a preview and share our news with the poetry lovers in your circle. And remember, if you place your pre-order in our store, you will receive your book a full 2 weeks in advance. Visit our Bookstore»
Believing is Seeing
Posed with a pitchfork
before a board-and-batten, steep gabled cottage
with a pointed window, the American Gothic
couple gazes from the canvas in eternal taciturnity.
In the hushed, polished halls of downtown
Chicago hangs this two-faced symbol
of gritty, rural resourcefulness
and small-town rigidity.
I stand among millions who’ve stared back, unsure
what I’m seeing, caught between a kitsch joke
and a culture hungry for something deep, enduring
and blessed by high art.
A little battered and alligatored with old
paint, the structure still sits as Grant Wood
sketched it in a whimsical stop-the-car
moment. Having already been there without traveling,
I walked around amazed at its sudden
three-dimensionality, the sky as pale and luminous
as the painter’s pigment. I conjured
the grim-faced iconic couple out front, knowing
they never lived there, weren’t paired
or even painted together. But the artist’s sister and dentist
were destined to stand just beyond the porch,
married forever in a sacred, fractured authenticity
Not so much a painting as a mirror, this American
Sphinx is Old Glory and Miss Liberty,
has marketed greeting cards and television shows,
sold cereal and promoted politicians.
Patriotic fairytale more real than an Eldon, Iowa
house or two people who sat for their portraits,
it tells us stories we are starved to hear
because what we believe is what we see.
Poems by David K. Leff
ISBN: 978-1-938846-15-1 | 5.5 x 8.5 | 100pgs | Pbk
Release Date: October 18, 2013
Order through our store and we will send your book on October 5th!
About the Book: Deeply rooted in place and time, these poems explore nature, the built environment, and human relationships with an acute sense of reverence and wonder that renews the spirit. Reserve your copy»