Poetry Book Club: "The Invention of the Darling" by Li-Young Lee

This monthly book club, led by Doug Knowlton, is for those who like to read and discuss poetry. It celebrates the integral role of poets and poetry in life and literature. April's selection is The Invention of the Darling by Li-Young Lee - a searching and meditative new collection from one of America's most beloved poets. In poems that weave memory, myth, and spirituality, Lee reflects on family, exile, and the mystery of devotion. His language feels both ancient and intimate, reminding us how poetry can hold what can't be said outright: longing, love, and the ache of being alive.

We meet in person in the loft of our store in The Mark building at 117 South Pineapple Avenue. The cost is your purchase of the book ($17.99), which can be picked up at Bookstore1 any time before our meeting.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

A New Yorker and Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2024

“The poet of rapture and tenderness” (Major Jackson, American Poets), Li-Young Lee speaks these poems with the intimacy and primacy of a whisper, as if from a lover to a beloved, or a believer to God. Each poem in The Invention of the Darling is a mysterious conjunction of spirit and matter, movement and stillness, the divine and the mundane, the sacred and the forbidden. They yearn for holistic union with The Beloved, every sentence another name for The Beloved, every poem another way to say “I love you.” Forged in awe of life and love, these poems emerge from the unlit depths of our earthly, material desires and our deepest fears of mortality.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Li–Young Lee is a poet and translator. He received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement, among other awards. Lee lives in Chicago.

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