Poets & Writers Theater

“There are days we live / as if death were nowhere / in the background from joy / to joy to joy, from wing to wing,” reads Li-Young Lee from his poem “From Blossoms,” included in his debut collection, Rose (BOA Editions, 1986), for this installment of Poetry Breaks, a series created by Leita Luchetti in the 1980s and 1990s presented in partnership with the Academy of American Poets.

“To pull the metal splinter from my palm / my father recited a poem in a low voice.” Tina Chang reads from Li-Young Lee’s poem “The Gift,” her choice for “The Poem I Wish I Had Read” video series produced by the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College. For more from Chang, read this 2019 Q&A by Jerome Ellison Murphy in our Online Exclusive archive.

“Then he lay down / to sleep like a snow-covered road / winding through pines older than him, / without any travelers, and lonely for no one.” Li-Young Lee reads his poem “Eating Together” for the Poetry Breaks series, videos filmed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Leita Luchetti and brought back with the help of the Academy of American Poets.

Poets & Writers Live was at Chicago's Instituto Cervantes on June 20, 2015, for a program featuring Li-Young Lee, Marc Kelly Smith, Kevin Coval, Haki Madhubuti, Roger Reeves, Parneshia Jones, Megan Stielstra, and many other authors, editors, agents, and literary professionals. More information about this and other Poets & Writers Live events can be found at pw.org/live.

Poet Li-Young Lee gives the poetry keynote at Poets & Writers Live Chicago in June 2015.