The Undressing
Poems
WW Norton · Print & ebook · March 3, 2020
Celebrated poet Li-Young Lee returns with a breathtaking new volume about the violence of desire and the peace of love.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- These poems bring spiritual searching into uneasy conversation with desire, violence, and love.
- Themes
- Desire and love, Human violence and dispossession, Spiritual inquiry
- Genres
- Asian American Poetry, Love Poetry, Inspirational & Religious Poetry
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
Lessons on ExpulsionErika L. Sánchez51% match
GuillotineEduardo C. Corral48% match
Aimless LoveBilly Collins48% matchShares Love Poetry
Don't Call US DeadDanez Smith47% match
The Invention of the DarlingLi-Young Lee71% matchShares Love Poetry and Inspirational & Religious Poetry
Time Is a MotherOcean Vuong56% matchShares Asian American Poetry
Grand TourElisa Gonzalez50% match
Yellow RainMai Der Vang48% matchShares Asian American Poetry
For younger readers: Bronx Masquerade, Love & Sex, Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
Celebrated poet Li-Young Lee returns with a breathtaking new volume about the violence of desire and the peace of love. 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, as well as the horrors the poet grew up with as a child of refugees.
Continue reading
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.
Prayer and Pressure
These poems bring spiritual searching into uneasy conversation with desire, violence, and love.
Come here for
- Old Testament, Dao De Jing, and Wu-Tang Clan in one poetic field
- A contemplative look at what binds people together
Expect
- Layered poems with wide-ranging subjects and an urgent inner question
- Violence and dispossession beside the possibility of love’s peace
Where it sits
| Asian American Poetry | 93% |
|---|---|
| Love Poetry | 38% |
| Inspirational & Religious Poetry | 27% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Asian American Poetry
- Authors
- Li-Young Lee
- Publisher
- WW Norton
- Published
- March 3, 2020
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Desire and love · Human violence and dispossession · Spiritual inquiry
- Reading lane
- Asian American Poetry