Book of My Nights (American Poets Continuum) (2001)

Behind My Eyes is the new collection of poems by Li-Young Lee. If one has read any of his previous work they are expecting spare, beautiful, lyric poetry, and that reader will not be disappointed. I recently discovered Lee while browsing the poetry section of a local book store. I picked up his Book Of My Nights and read a few poems and decided the book was worth buying. One of the nice things about poetry is that you are able to get the general feel of a book from a few poems and decide whether or not to take a chance. It was well worth they money spent, especially as there are poems I have already read several times.

On a recent drive through Southern Vermont we stopped at Bartleby's Books in Wilmington and I discovered a copy of his latest collection, Behind My Eyes, which I bought without hesitation. I have yet to read his earlier works, though they are on my to do list.

...His Body throws two shadows:
One onto the table
and the piece of paper before him,
and one onto his mind.

One makes it difficult for him to see
the words he's written and crossed out
on the paper. The other
keeps him from recognizing
another master than Death. He squints.
He reads: Does the first light hide
inside the first dark?

He reads: While all bodies share
the same fate, all voices do not.
from: In His Own Shadow

The voice here echoes his earlier work in Book Of My Nights, but his voice is more diverse in this new collection, with greater breadth, and, as the quote above might indicate, greater awareness of his own importance as a voice in contemporary poetry. Lee's voice is soft spoken and spiritual, beautiful and profound, spare and deep, intensely personal and intensely universal. These are poems of pain, of love, of loss, of dialogue, of experience, of family; and behind it all a sense of profound wisdom, like an orchid where each blossom is unique yet each a part of the whole plant, opening successively upon a quivering branch.

To see what Lilia Pilia says about Li-Young Lee click here, and what Ivan Granger has to say here. Here is an article on Behind My Eyes from when it first came out last year. ( )

Well rendered and moving poetry. The fine traditions of Chinese poetry are brought forth in fine American poetry. ( )