Christal Rice Cooper
All
excerpts from The Word from His Song given copyright privilege by Li-Young
Lee and BOA Editions.
Li Young Lee And His New
Chapbook
The Word from
His Song:
“6 Billion Cells A
Minute”
From March 30th
to April 2nd of 2016 legendary and best-selling poet Li-Young Lee is
going to give a poetry reading at two events – the AWP 2016 Conference and the BOA Editions 40th Anniversary Celebration at the Los Angeles
Convention Center and JW Marriot Los Angeles, respectively.
Li Young Lee’s chapbook The Word from His Song
will make its debut appearance at both events and will be a limited publication
sold exclusively through the BOA’s AWP Book-fair booths 800 and 802.
The
Word From His Song will not be
available to order online until after the AWP conference is concluded, and only
for a limited time and at a limited press run.
Li Young Lee’s The Word From His Song
features 18-pages of eight full-length poems, all new, beautifully designed in
a letterpress cover.
The Word From His Song is the tenth installment in the BOA Pamphlet Series, which began in 1978. The other nine titles are The
Bridge of Change by John Logan; The Toy Bone by Donald Hall; Sunlight:
A
Sequence for My Daughter Poems by David Ignatow with drawings by Rose
Graubart Ignatow; Survivors by Richard Eberhart; Armidale by Louis
Simpson; Remains: A Sequence of Poems
by W.D. Snodgrass; Nest of Sonnets by A. Poulin, Jr.; Gratitude to Old Teachers
by Robert Bly; and Holes the Crickets Have Eaten in Blankets by Robert Bly.
BOA
Editions is also sponsoring its “Ideal
Reading Experience” where one reader per month will be awarded a free,
author-signed copy of The Word from His Song for the
remainder year of 2016.
BOA
Editions Publisher Peter Conners described Li-Young Lee and Lee’s work as vital
to American Poetry.
"Since the publication of his debut collection, Rose (BOA Editions,
1986), Li-Young Lee has
remained a singular, vital figure in American poetry. Because the publication
and promotion of his works has been a focus of BOA’s efforts for the past 30
years, it feels fitting that on the 40th anniversary of the press,
we share a selection of Li-Young Lee’s newest work in a beautiful, collectible
chapbook. A work of art in every sense, this limited edition publication will
be a must-have collectible for poetry readers everywhere.”
Lee’s
other works are The City In Which I Love You; Book of My Nights; Behind
My Eyes; The Winged Seed: A Remembrance;
and Breaking
The Alabaster Jar: Conversations With
Li-Young Lee.
Feature writer Christal Rice Cooper
conducted an interview with Li Young Lee via email and telephone from February
29, 2016 to March 28, 2016. Below is the
scripted interview between Lee and Cooper.
The
sparrow on my rooftop shouts,
"All
roads be blessed!”
Excerpt
from “The Word From His Song”
The last time we spoke
was July of 2013. What has changed in
your personal life and poetry life since then?
Wow, the last time we spoke was 2013? It feels so much longer ago than that. What has changed? You ask.
Well, I feel a lifetime older, and less in many ways, mostly
physically. But in important ways, I feel significant
increase: more joy, more mirth, more
interest, more mystery, a deeper faith in poetry, in its practice and in its
yogic dimensions, and a deeper connection to both time and to eternity.
Also, all my life, I’ve struggled to keep death and impermanence in my radar, but lately it’s easier, less of a struggle to maintain awareness of my own transience, and that experience more and more instills in me a near giddiness and amazement at being alive, as well as greater focus, greater clarity and direction. A flower is my organizing principle. Love is my compass. And as for my writing, it feels more introverted to me. But you’ll have to tell me if that comes through.
Also, all my life, I’ve struggled to keep death and impermanence in my radar, but lately it’s easier, less of a struggle to maintain awareness of my own transience, and that experience more and more instills in me a near giddiness and amazement at being alive, as well as greater focus, greater clarity and direction. A flower is my organizing principle. Love is my compass. And as for my writing, it feels more introverted to me. But you’ll have to tell me if that comes through.
I
loved you before I was born.
It
doesn’t make sense, I know.
Excerpt
from “I Loved You Before I Was Born”
Can you choose one poem
from The Word from His Song and tell
us the step-by-step process of writing that specific poem from the moment the
idea is birthed in your brain until final book form?
To
be honest, I’m not able to give an honest and accurate account. I have exactly no idea how any of these poems
got written. I suppose I could
re-imagine the process for one of the poems, but I suspect that would not be
free of fiction. From inception, and
throughout revision, each day, the whole process occurs in a state of
heightened awareness and presence I barely remember when it’s over.
It’s
just a needle I thread,
A
sleeve I keep trying to mend, the spool diminishing
Excerpt
from “At The Year’s Revolving Door”
How did the idea of the
BOA pamphlet come into being?
Peter
Conners and I have wanted to do a BOA project for quite some time. When BOA’s 40th Anniversary came
around, the idea of a chapbook came up.
I don’t know who thought of it, but I’m so happy we’re getting it done.
How would you describe
these eight poems?
The
best I could do.
In your previous books
you’ve written mostly at night, with the focus on your father and struggled
with insomnia as indicated in “Folding A Five Cornered Star So The Corners
Meet.” Did you experience the same things
in The Word from His Song?
Well
I seem to be working around the clock these days, and with greater glee. I can’t wait to get to it when I wake up, and
find it hard to part with when I’m exhausted and ready to take a break. I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel
something like a greater and greater surrendering to the impulse of writing, a
more immediate answering to the call of the imagination.
It
must be the stars’ insomnia.
And
I am their earthbound descendant
Excerpt
from “Folding A Five Cornered Star So
the Corners Meet”
What poem is your
favorite and why?
On
any day, I have a different favorite poem, but it’s never one of my own.
In “Hidden Hearing” the
poem is about God. Who is God to you
now?
God
is my true nature and identity, my origin and my destiny.
Last
night I dreamed of voices in a grove.
Ladders
reaching from the ground into the branches.
Excerpt
from “Hidden Hearing”
In “Leaving” you mention
the trees outside your window. When you
look out that
window today what do you see, hear,
taste, smell?
Well,
I’m about 500 miles away from that window at the moment, and won’t be returning
to that window for a few more months.
Each
day, less leaves
In
the tree outside my window
Excerpt
from “Leaving”
You are going to AWP in
Los Angeles AND you will give a reading to celebrate BOA 40th
anniversary. What is one (and I know
there are many) thing you will talk about, and how do you prepare yourself for
such two great appearances?
On
the one hand, I don’t prepare at all. I
never plan to say anything or do anything.
On the other hand, I’ve been preparing all of my life since I see
everything, everything I do in my life as an opportunity to practice greater
presence and awareness. Whether I daily
succeed or not in that practice is almost beside the point. The point is the practice. Giving a public talk is just one more
opportunity to practice.
I
must know how to bless
And
how to receive blessing.
Excerpt
from “Treasure Uncovered”
Your books are all
different but at the same time with the same theme. I feel this is true of The Word from His Song. Do
you agree? And what makes The Word from His Song different from
your previous works?
I
guess each book would have to be different, since I’m not the same even from
one moment to the next. I mean, even my
body is changing at something like 6 billion cells a minute. You, as an objective reader, may be in a
better position to tell me how these poems are different from my other work. I
can only tell you what I wish and hope for.
I hope they are simpler, deeper, truer, more sincere, and less “literary.” But I don’t know if, in fact, they are
so.
Of
all these things,
words
weigh too much, yet not enough.
Excerpt
from “Why Are You Awake?”
1.
Li Young Lee in 2015
2.
Jacket cover of The Word from
His Song
3.
BOA Staff.
Peter Conners is far right standing.
4, 5, and and 15.
BOA Logo
6.
The Bridge of Change
by John Logan
7.
The Toy Bone by
Donald Hall
8.
Sunlight: A
Sequence for My Daughter Poems by David Ignatow with drawings by Rose
Graubart Ignatow;
9.
Survivors by
Richard Eberhart
10.
Armidale by
Louis Simpson
11.
Remains: A Sequence
of Poems by W.D. Snodgrass
12.
Nest of Sonnets by A.
Poulin, Jr.
13.
Gratitude to Old Teachers by Robert Bly
14.
Holes the Crickets Have Eaten in Blankets by Robert Bly.
16.
Peter Conners
Copyright granted by Peter Conners
17.
Jacket cover of Rose
18.
Jacket cover of The City in
Which I Love You
19.
Jacket cover of Book of My
Nights
20.
Jacket cover of Behind My Eyes
21.
Jacket cover of The Winged
Seed: A Remembrance
22.
Jacket cover of Breaking The
Alabaster Jar: Conversations With Li
Young Lee
23.
Artwork by Christal Rice Cooper
24.
Li Young Lee on November 2013.
25.
Donna Lee and Li-Young Lee. The couple have been married since November of 1976 and have two sons ages 31 and 32. They reside in Chicago, Illinois.
Donna Lee and Li-Young Lee. The couple have been married since November of 1976 and have two sons ages 31 and 32. They reside in Chicago, Illinois.
26.
Peter Connners
Copyright granted by Peter Conners
27.
Photoshop by Christal Rice Cooper
Photoshop by Christal Rice Cooper
28.
Artwork by Christal Rice Cooper
29.
30
Top Left, Melissa Hall, Director of Development and Operations
Top Right, Jenna Fisher, Director of Marketing and Production,
Sitting Peter Conners, Publisher
© CITY Newspaper © Mark Chamberlin
31.
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