The Invention of the Darling - Poems

"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.

Product details

• Authors: Li-Young Lee, Lee Li-Young
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 17.02.2026
• EAN: 9781324123477
• ISBN: 978-1-324-12347-7
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Poetry, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Love & Erotica, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Death, Grief, Loss, POETRY / American / Asian American & Pacific Islander, Poetry / Poems