Undressing Poems

"Erotic. . . . Throughout this multilayered book, Lee] challenges readers to think and feel more deeply." -- Washington Post

"Few poets write like Li- Young Lee these days, facing the biggest and broadest questions head on. . . . Fewer still ask these questions so well, and so movingly."-- Los Angeles Times

A breathtaking volume about the violence of desire and the peace of love from celebrated poet Li-Young Lee, The Undressing is a tonic for spiritual anemia; it attempts to uncover things hidden since the dawn of the world. Short of achieving that end, these mysterious, unassuming poems investigate the human violence and dispossession increasingly prevalent around the world, and the horrors the poet grew up with as a child of refugees. Lee draws from disparate sources including the Old Testament, the Dao De Jing, and the music of the Wu-Tang Clan. While the ostensive subjects of these layered, impassioned poems are wide-ranging, their driving engine is a burning need to understand our collective human mission.