Rose (New Poets of America Series)

Rating:
Summary: Always fresh
Review: "Rose" came to me through a friend and served as an acquaintance with modern American poetry. After reading only a few poems I was done discovering Li-Young Lee as a modern poet and soon he began emerging more as a wise man, an undisguised human, a feeler from the soul and writer of essence.

To captivate me, Li-Young Lee only needs to be ingenuous and precise; he does not distract with stray color and ornament. The display of balance between logic and supposition, desire and pain, abstract and concrete makes Lee a sort of a scientist in his own way. In "Rose" he illuminates the ways of his world from the most unsuspected angles, producing most genuine perceptions for my indulgence.

Even though I understand that the sad events in his life inspire him best, I'm only selfish when I wish his poetry acknowledged them as elements that he's made of and cherished more the brighter side of what he has become despite/because of them. Hmm, I'll ask my friend...

Rating:
Summary: Always fresh
Review: "Rose" came to me through a friend and served as an acquaintance with modern American poetry. After reading only a few poems I was done discovering Li-Young Lee as a modern poet and soon he began emerging more as a wise man, an undisguised human, a feeler from the soul and writer of essence.

To captivate me, Li-Young Lee only needs to be ingenuous and precise; he does not distract with stray color and ornament. The display of balance between logic and supposition, desire and pain, abstract and concrete makes Lee a sort of a scientist in his own way. In "Rose" he illuminates the ways of his world from the most unsuspected angles, producing most genuine perceptions for my indulgence.

Even though I understand that the sad events in his life inspire him best, I'm only selfish when I wish his poetry acknowledged them as elements that he's made of and cherished more the brighter side of what he has become despite/because of them. Hmm, I'll ask my friend...

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Gorgeous!
Review: Kafka said... "We ought to only read books that stab us."

Li-Young Lee has stabbed me with "Rose." In these beautifully crafted poems, he has interlaced the past and the present, his Chinese heritage, mother, father, wife...but Oh, his father is so very present.

Reading Lee's poetry is like soaking in a warm bath, having a lovely dream, remembering something beautiful. The language dripped inside my ears and at times moved me to tears...

His memories about hair...

'The scent of it, hair falling against his face, his skin, brushing it,combing it, braiding it,unbraiding it, hair spilling over, her autumn hair, and finally, caught in his
mother's hair.

I love these imagages. I love Li-Young Lee for stabbing me in the heart and making me feel.

"In my dream I fly
past summers and moths,
to the thistle
caught in my mother's hair, the purple one
I touched and bled for,
to myself at three, sleeping
beside her, waking with her hair in my mouth." -Li-Young Lee-

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Gorgeous!
Review: Kafka said... "We ought to only read books that stab us."

Li-Young Lee has stabbed me with "Rose." In these beautifully crafted poems, he has interlaced the past and the present, his Chinese heritage, mother, father, wife...but Oh, his father is so very present.

Reading Lee's poetry is like soaking in a warm bath, having a lovely dream, remembering something beautiful. The language dripped inside my ears and at times moved me to tears...

His memories about hair...

'The scent of it, hair falling against his face, his skin, brushing it,combing it, braiding it,unbraiding it, hair spilling over, her autumn hair, and finally, caught in his
mother's hair.

I love these imagages. I love Li-Young Lee for stabbing me in the heart and making me feel.

"In my dream I fly
past summers and moths,
to the thistle
caught in my mother's hair, the purple one
I touched and bled for,
to myself at three, sleeping
beside her, waking with her hair in my mouth." -Li-Young Lee-

Rating:
Summary: Lee's quiet precision is powerful poetry
Review: Like a child who possesses a sensual, adult relationship with the world, Li-Young Lee radiates with an open gentleness and delicate sensitivity that seems, at times, almost too fragile to allow him to walk the streets alone. Nothing escapes his keen eye and, as he so poignantly illustrates, the greatest art is all around us, in glimpses that, when combined with memory, produce a renewal of the spirit. Lee's poetry results in a clarification or awakening of feelings that summon the reader's desire to examine his or her feelings, and by examining them, express them. Thus, by reaching into our own self-awareness, we are able to seek redemption. We forgive ourselves. Li-Young Lee is at the leading edge of what is good about contemporary, American poetry. After devouring all his works, my only complaint is that there is too little of it. More, please.

Rating:
Summary: one of the best living poets, sublime writing
Review: Mr Lee is one of my favorite poets, period. The Rose is a wonderful collection, and I think I like it a tiny bit better than The City In Which I Loved You. The way that Mr. Lee captures love & longing, subtle forms of love, nuances of parental relationships, and the physical world is amazing.

The first time I read 'Persimmons' it was in a Pushcart Prize Anthology, and I had never seen anything by Lee. It was years ago, and with no access to a printer or computer (stuck on holiday) I hand wrote at least 5 copies to immediately put in the mail to friends because I loved the poem so. Every poet resonates differently, it happens that Mr. Lee echoes some voice that I really understand and appreciate. If you love words, and how they can move together into something magical, he is one to read.

I wanted to include an excerpt, but I'm not sure that's right. Do a web-search on him if you want to see what sort of writing style it is. It's difficult to take a stanza out of context, and it's too hard to pick one. :)

p.s. If you happen to agree with my taste, and you don't know about The Weight of Oranges by Anne Michaels, that's another rewarding read.

Rating:
Summary: lee is one of the contemporary greats
Review: This is the first collection of one of contemporary poetry's great poets, Li-Young Lee. He does not disappoint. The poems have great images and a wonderful use of language. There are some beautiful passages in this collection. The rose is prominent throughout (and the long poem in the second section is about roses) both in the traditional meaning, but more in a different way to look at it. The other prominent figure is the father. The collection seems to be working through the myth, the reality of the hero-figure that is the father. Great work here that you can return to time and again and find something new.