Monday, November 28, 2011

From Blossoms

This poem can possibly be summarized as being about young people in love. The poem may possibly address, how these people live in the moment, and do not fear death or possibly think of any shortcomings or "bad luck" that may befall them.
One question that I had while reading this poem, is that I wonder "who was the intended audience for this poem"?One connection that I had to other readings that was covered in this course, is that it made me think of other minority, male poets whose works that we had to read for class. Even though these men were African-African, it is interesting to read about how Asian-American and African-American have often similiar or perhaps different themes in their poetry.
Lastly, one connection that came to mind was that this poem appeared to be very in touch with nature. The word "blossoms" makes me think of cherry blossoms. Of course, this sort of plant is associated with the Japanese symbol for their country. That was why before I researched the author, I thought mistakenly that the writer was Japanese. However upon reading for more information about the writer, I discovered that he is Chinese by ethnicity.
However, his family had moved to Indonesia before his birth. The writer of this poem had been born actually in Indonesia. Li-Young Lee had been born in the year of 1957 to parents, that had been exiled from China. I also learned that Lee had been born into an infleuntial family. His great grandfather had been the first president of China. Also, his father had been Mao's personal doctor. However, peace did not last long for the Lee family in their new home in Indonesia. This was due to the fact, that anti-Chinese sentiment had begin to develop against Chinese that had settled in the land. So, the Lee family was forced to flee to the Americas. This was after having briefly resided in Japan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
I discovered that Lee's poetry is noted, for its elements of mysticism and silence. The poem "From Blossoms" does have an element, of wondering if Lee had an more deeper meaning for the poem, or was it just intended to appear simple and being in touch with nature. Even though Lee is considered to be an lyrical poet, his poems often use personal life experiences. As one reads Lee's works, they may possibly feel the potent and poignant longing for something greater, that has not been yet achieved. As one reads Lee's poems, they may possibly feel as though Lee is longing to find an sort of compassion. One may possibly feel as though Lee has laced his words with "both anguish and adoration". Even though Lee's poems may have an almost childlike element to them, his creativity may be corseted with his personal memories of immigration, his family, war, and food. I will most likely read more of Lee's poetry and books in the future. I feel as though he is an good poet. I have read several poems before by Asian-American women. However, I have never read any poems by male, Asian-Amercians before. I will most likely read more poems by Lee in the future. However, I still often had trouble at first, deciphering what exactly Lee meant by certain verses. I have wrote poetry before, but still I personally perfer reading and writing short stories to poems. Even though this poem was interesting and easy to read, it was still hard to interpet. While reading this piece of writing, I could not help, but think of warm weather and taking delight, in the carefree attitude of the poem.

1 comment:

  1. I want to make several comments about Lee's "From Blossoms" poem. One observation, is that this poem could be interpeted as having an almost "erotic" element to it. This poem seems to also represent an reflection on the circle of life. While one is reading this poem, they could possibly ask themselves if ethnicity really matters? This poem could have possibly been written by anyone, regardless of race or age. This poem also seems to showcase "how exactly does one want to live their life"? Through the usage of describing peaches as being "fresh", seems to describe an new and passionate life. Lastly, this poem could be interpeted as an example, for why vampires have became an occuring theme in popular culture. This is due to the fact, that they are young forever and are of exquisite beauty. This poem could display, the beauty and youthfulness of life by comparing one to an piece of fruit. Also, when the poet uses the word "we" in the poem, this could possibly represent an young or old couple in love. Or perhaps, children enjoying an positive life with their loved ones. This poem seems to alomst have an magical and splendor quality to it.

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