The Undressing ─ Poems

A tonic for spiritual anemia, Li-Young Lee’s new collection attempts to uncover things hidden since the dawn of the world. Short of achieving that end, these mysterious, unassuming poems investigate the human violence and dispossession increasingly prevalent around the world, as well as the horrors that the poet grew up with as a child of refugees. Lee draws from disparate sources, including the Old Testament, the Dao De Jing, and the music of the Wu Tang Clan. While the ostensive subjects of these layered, impassioned poems are wide- ranging, their driving engine is a burning need to understand our collective human mission.FROM “CHANGING PLACES IN THE FIRE”Look at us: You inside meinside you. We’ve lived insideeach other from the beginning.And from before beginning.