PBS.org has a podcast of poet Li-Young Lee reading from his work, Descended from Dreamers: Poems by Li-Young Lee
Li-Young Lee was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents who had been exiled from China. After fleeing the regime of Indonesian President Sukarno in 1959 through Hong Kong, Macau and Japan, his family settled in the United States in 1964. He shares two poems from his recent collection.
Extended video: More poems
This excerpt from Book of My Nights illustrates the beautiful and transitory nature of Lee's writing.
The hyacinth emerges headlong dying,
one of the colors of ongoing
and good-bye,
its odor my very body's smokeless burning,
its voice
night's own dark lap.
Above ground, the crown of flowers tells the wish
brooding earth stitched inside the bulb.
In another kingdom, it was the wick
the lamp cradled, strands
assembled in rapt slumber.
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