Li-Young Lee is an author/poet born in 1957. His father was the physician to Mao Zedong. They fled to America to escape Chinese anti-sentiments. In the United States, Lee attended the University of Arizona, University of Pittsburgh, and the university of New York. It was at the University of Pittsburgh where he developed his love for writing. His writing usually centered on the thematic ideas of simplicity, strength, and silence. Lee taught at several universities including Northwestern and the University of Iowa. His work that won awards include: Book of My Nights (2002 Williams Carlos Williams Award), The City in Which I Love You (1990 Lamont and Poetry Selection), and Rose (Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award). Lee is the recipient of a Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets and other awards, including the Doctor of Humane Letters from the State University of New York.
The Gift by Li-Young Lee
To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
Before the story ended, he’d removed
the iron sliver I thought I’d die from.
I can’t remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness
he laid against my face,
the flames of discipline
he raised above my head.
Had you entered that afternoon
you would have thought you saw a man
planting something in a boy’s palm,
a silver tear, a tiny flame.
Had you followed that boy
you would have arrived here,
where I bend over my wife’s right hand.
Look how I shave her thumbnail down
so carefully she feels no pain.
Watch as I lift the splinter out.
I was seven when my father
took my hand like this,
and I did not hold that shard
between my fingers and think,
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I did what a child does
when he’s given something to keep.
I kissed my father.
Lee is getting a splinter pulled out by his father when he is young. During the time of this incidence, he does not recall anything going on, except for his intense concentration of his father's hand and his voice. The hands of tenderness shows Lee's love for his father as he sees his father as a caring person who loves him, yet the deepness of his voice shows how powerful his father is as he is as big as an ocean when he talks. The gift his father has given to him was the gift of relief or the gift of love.
Lee then compares it to when he does the removal of a splinter from his wife's hand. Lee is now in the same position as his father, showing Lee as another caring person.
Q: What do you consider as the perfect gift that comes from the heart?
Roomba:
Roomba is a series of autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners sold by iRobot. It can navigate around the house and avoid obstacles on its own due to its high-tech sensors that tells the robot if the area is clean or there is something in the way. It was introduced into the world in 2002.
Q: Do you believe it is reliable to trust a robot to clean up your mess and do you think that we are relying too much on technology to perform the simple tasks of life?
JLL
The Gift by Li-Young Lee
To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
Before the story ended, he’d removed
the iron sliver I thought I’d die from.
I can’t remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness
he laid against my face,
the flames of discipline
he raised above my head.
Had you entered that afternoon
you would have thought you saw a man
planting something in a boy’s palm,
a silver tear, a tiny flame.
Had you followed that boy
you would have arrived here,
where I bend over my wife’s right hand.
Look how I shave her thumbnail down
so carefully she feels no pain.
Watch as I lift the splinter out.
I was seven when my father
took my hand like this,
and I did not hold that shard
between my fingers and think,
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I did what a child does
when he’s given something to keep.
I kissed my father.
Lee is getting a splinter pulled out by his father when he is young. During the time of this incidence, he does not recall anything going on, except for his intense concentration of his father's hand and his voice. The hands of tenderness shows Lee's love for his father as he sees his father as a caring person who loves him, yet the deepness of his voice shows how powerful his father is as he is as big as an ocean when he talks. The gift his father has given to him was the gift of relief or the gift of love.
Lee then compares it to when he does the removal of a splinter from his wife's hand. Lee is now in the same position as his father, showing Lee as another caring person.
Q: What do you consider as the perfect gift that comes from the heart?
Roomba:
Roomba is a series of autonomous robotic vacuum cleaners sold by iRobot. It can navigate around the house and avoid obstacles on its own due to its high-tech sensors that tells the robot if the area is clean or there is something in the way. It was introduced into the world in 2002.
Q: Do you believe it is reliable to trust a robot to clean up your mess and do you think that we are relying too much on technology to perform the simple tasks of life?
JLL
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