{"product_id":"9780819502032","title":"I Ask My Mother to Sing : Mother Poems of Li-Young Lee","description":"\u003cp\u003eA chapbook of new and selected mother poems by celebrated poet Li-Young Lee.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI Ask My Mother to Sing contains five decades of poems by the acclaimed Asian-American poet, Li-Young Lee about his own mother and the many meanings of motherhood. This collection follows Lee's entire career, from his debut Rose (BOA, 1986) to his most recent book, The Invention of the Darling (W.W. Norton, 2024). The chapbook also includes seven new and previously unpublished poems. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSample poem: \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Inheritance \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMother, your hair \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ehas fallen \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003efor the last time, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eand I can't raise it up. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd I can't put it down. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI can't leave it on the ground. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe ground is too crowded with the living, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003etoo teeming with the dead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI can't store it in the sky. The sky's too full \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eof birds and clouds and airplanes. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the seas are full of mountains \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eand creatures and ships coming and going. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd as long as earth turns, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eall of the seasons are full of days. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere's no place to lay your hair down. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSleep won't have it. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYour hair whispers too many secrets and stories. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNight doesn't want it. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere are no stars your hair won't swallow. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen you were alive, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eyou gathered it, bound it, and piled it, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eto balance on the top of your head. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA small black urn, it shone. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLater, it shone white. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut your hair has come undone \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eonce and for all time, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eand what was one \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003enow is many. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat started at your crown, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003enow has no beginning. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat stopped at your waist, \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003enow has no end. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow can't be collected or dispersed. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow neither story nor song can comb or weigh. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow has no measure or address. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow can't be counted or left out. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd I can't carry it. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd I can't put it down.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wesleyan University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48702556700907,"sku":"00000_00000_00000_00000","price":14.55,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0758\/4484\/5803\/files\/9780819502032-1.jpg?v=1781642058","url":"https:\/\/kinokuniya.com.sg\/products\/9780819502032","provider":"Books Kinokuniya Singapore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}