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Driving through Paintings

poems by Leslie Klein

Leslie Klein's Driving through Paintings takes the reader on a journey as she relives the many trips she's taken to places both near and far. “Within these pages / the pulse of my life resides. // The journeys taken / ideas birthed / sorrows unveiled.” Her poems illustrate the beauty and mystery of nature, the spirit of a creative life, and the journey of self-awareness.

POETRY / General

ISBN: 978-1-951651-34-3 (print; softcover; perfect bound)

LCCN: 2020939499

82 pages

Author Biography

Leslie Klein is an artist and writer, living in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Her op-eds, feature stories, and poetry have been published in various newspapers and magazines. Klein has had a long career teaching and showing her work in galleries and juried exhibitions. She was commissioned to create the sculpture for The Boston Freedom Award.

Endorsements

Leslie Klein writes with the eye of an artist and the voice of a poet. Her Driving through Paintings takes the reader on a journey—retracing the many trips she’s taken over the years to beloved places, as well as revisiting the miracles she sees daily in her own backyard. There’s a sense of wonder in her work—whether it be about a hawk’s flight or her grandmother’s knitting needles — along with an innate understanding of the mysteries of life. “I believe in magic,” she writes, “I see it everywhere.” With an open, generous heart, she shows us what she sees—“the daily tricks / of dawn and dusk / painting color on the sky.” This is a book to cherish, written by someone with a gift for language, a deep feeling for the natural world, and a wellspring of empathy and love.
— Liza Gyllenhaal Bennett, author of Local Knowledge, past president and current executive board member of The Academy of American Poets. 

The span of Leslie Klein's poetic musings is diverse. Still, catching this naturalist's attention are her ventures into the natural world, its picking berries with dad, looking into the very heart of ancient trees, encountering recent arrivals of spring birds on a May morning.
—Thom Smith, science curator, emeritus, Berkshire Museum; and longtime nature columnist for The Berkshire Eagle

Articles and Reviews

Tracie Nichols, Driving through Paintings, Story Circle Network, October 28, 2020

Carol Smallwood Interviews Poet Leslie Klein, New Book Review, October 1, 2020