Poetry for Lee is an experience

Poetry is an experience for Lee. It has no boundaries and is still there. He claims that “ the soul” from which poetry is derived exists and that he prepares for it by being able to compose at his desk. He, like most authors or poets, has a state of being that encourages him or her to compose, and it is up to that person whether or not he or she can discipline himself or herself to maintain a timetable for it.
According to Lee, poetic creation is seeing life as it is, becoming an observer, and waiting for pictures or thoughts to take shape. This is a vital and amazing aspect of poetry development. As this puts the maker to be a vessel for every thing that comes to life on its own. And the associations that connect to certain ideas are made to move by itself.

His background of having a father who is a spiritual leader influenced how he understands his work and the processes that take place in making his poetry. Concepts of Taoism and vibrations as part of nature, and acknowledging that one’s own idea that is written in paper, be it in a sentence form or in a poem, is one vibration that has to be brought back to nature. The elements that make up poetry are those that have an existential explanation by the spiritual teachings of man. Moreover, his fascination to the Bible’s books as a form of literary piece and interpretations speaks to him as a poet.

His explanation of his process in making is told in such a way that is also associated with imagery, as he is an imaginative writer. It might be easier for an artistic writer to be able to identify such process in that way so as to understand one’s self in making the art. That he metioned having to pick such products of mind at the time they emerge, and when he does not, it does not appear back again, is an example of how the process is associated with action and forms of imagery in the mind of a person that has a “factory” of poems.

His work such as “Furious Versions” takes an audience into a time of his life, where his father is, the thoughts in his head, the happenings around a certain situation, and his child and wife being the center of his utmost consideration at that moment. He is able to take his reader there. Indeed, he is able to take certain imagery into an integrated associations that when put in form of a poem, comes alive in a story that a reader can be part of.

The sense of not knowing anything or “know nothingness” is also evident in his work. As it is in other poems that takes a reader into it, almost as if hallucinating. However, it is quite different as the way he takes the reader in every detail that his eyes see on that imagery. His work took the reader of his actual place and imbibed in the reader’s self a sense of haste, of seeing the actual but at the same time feeling distant. Almost like like a dream but vividly expressed. For a person who has a western background, the experience in his life, his exploits and thoughts are an opportunity to see from a lens that is unfamiliar, a little scary as it mysterious, as well as fascinating.

His work “The Cleaving” gives an actual experience of an encounter of a human person and that of an object. The very details of his works makes one be the very soul that is at that moment. How he describes the lines, crevices of a human form, the objects from and the way the gestures go about present themselves as the actual message of the piece. And there are many messages in his poem.

The concepts of death, self and religious rhetoric are present in his work. It is almost as if he speaks in such language. His presentation of the self is embodied on the object which the person he is looking at is working on, which is a duck. It is as if devouring one that is presented as a food is like taking in one’s being into one’s own self. And his identification of what could be the person who presented the food to him is a reflection of whom he has been with throughout his forming years in societies that have different cultural backgrounds.

His work on “The Gift” is different in a sense that only his childhood backround is merely presented like a story. With characters including himself and his father, whom he looks up to. The senses, however, were that of a tender man, a person who is bigger than the child that is speaking in the work. The pain and death associations are a masterful combination in contrast to the collective, calm and saving image of a father. His work, “The Gift”, is simple but it epitomizes his self history and his style but in a subtle way.

His work “Early in the Morning” is another simple yet subtly made experience. The feelings of organization and simplicity and carefree life as embodied in the actions of his parents and the hair of his mother gives a reader the feeling of being in the scene. The senses that play for the reader is that of a relaxed yet intriguing fascination to the relationship of his parents with each other. It is an image of a content life and a happy child who witnesses a couple’s bond for each other.

There are also elements in his works of dark and morose concepts. That in every peaceful pieces and in those pieces are happening that are supposed to be joyful. Full of bliss and enjoyment are factors of death. In his works, these dark feelings of end and death are always present. It is almost as if the artist is portraying the peace and enjoyment of the moment as a cover for a dark past that is still lurking in one’s subconscious. This looks evident in his family’s background. That much of his works are influenced by the tenderness of the parents, however, certain events in his childhood have been stamped and are always present in his works.

Moreover, the sense of non-identity or not being a part of anything is also present. There are shifts in perspectives in his work and shifts of focus. On one hand, there are elements, be it blissful or dark associations, from his childhood or father, and then there is his trasition stage to being a migrant and then ultimately living in the United States. And his focus, from the elemental characters in his poems to his family-his wife and child-that he built.

Indeed, poets are the same in certain ways that they are able to come into surface what the one-sided self of people cannot comprehend or bring out. The multi versions of a persona are what poets are really good in bringing about in their senses. And the addicting art of making a piece that induces a know-nothingness is a beautiful ability of poets. However, the person’s personal history, current stories are always imbibed in their works. No matter how new and how fresh life is started, and how far away one is from one’s own past, it is still there, lurking and ready to emerge from that pond of images and associations.