"I Ask My Mother to Sing ( Read more... )

"Morning ( Read more... )

"This Hour and What Is Dead ( Read more... )

"The Gift ( Read more... )

“Pretend You Don't Owe Me A Thing ( Read more... )

"A Hymn to Childhood ( Read more... )

"In the Kitchen ( Read more... )

"Persimmons"
Li-Young Lee

In sixth grade Mrs. Walker
slapped the back of my head
and made me stand in the corner
for not knowing the difference
between persimmon and precision.
How to choose

persimmons. This is precision.
Ripe ones are soft and brown-spotted.
Sniff the bottoms. The sweet one
will be fragrant. How to eat:
put the knife away, lay ( Read more... )

"From Blossoms ( Read more... )

“Nativity”
Li-Young Lee

In the dark, a child might ask, What is the world?
just to hear his sister
promise, An unfinished wing of heaven,
just to hear his brother say,
A house inside a house,
but most of all to hear his mother answer,
One more song, then you go to sleep.How could anyone in that bed guess ( Read more... )