Poem-a-Day - "Big Clock'" by Li-Young Lee

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
December 8, 2021 

Big Clock

Li-Young Lee

When the big clock at the train station stopped,
the leaves kept falling,
the trains kept running,
my mother’s hair kept growing longer and blacker,
and my father’s body kept filling up with time.

I can’t see the year on the station’s calendar.
We slept under the stopped hands of the clock
until morning, when a man entered carrying a ladder.
He climbed up to the clock’s face and opened it with a key.
No one but he knew what he saw.

Below him, the mortal faces went on passing
toward all compass points.
People went on crossing borders,
buying tickets in one time zone and setting foot in another.
Crossing thresholds: sleep to waking and back,
waiting room to moving train and back,
war zone to safe zone and back.

Crossing between gain and loss:
learning new words for the world and the things in it.
Forgetting old words for the heart and the things in it.
And collecting words in a different language
for those three primary colors:
staying, leaving, and returning.

And only the man at the top of the ladder
understood what he saw behind the face
which was neither smiling nor frowning.

And my father’s body went on filling up with death
until it reached the highest etched mark
of his eyes and spilled into mine.
And my mother’s hair goes on
never reaching the earth.

Copyright © 2021 by Li-Young Lee. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 8, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast 

  

“This poem is an attempt, I suppose, to understand time—the nature of time—and it seems to me that each of these stanzas is a figure of time on the one hand, and on the other hand a figure for eternity. I’m not sure if I’ve successfully communicated that, and I don’t mean in terms of subject matter or narrative, but in terms of what the language might inspire in the reader: the images, the ideas, but even more than the images and ideas (which are all in the head) something at a cellular level of understanding, something at a logic beyond our diurnal logic. This poem, in a way, is a very big failure, and it fails on many levels. I think what every great poem has to do is solve many problems, and these problems are problems that have plagued human beings, I want to say, since the beginning of time, but is that true, or did something change with the advent of the written word? I don’t know. Maybe I should start over.”
Li-Young Lee

Li-Young Lee is the author of multiple collections, including The Undressing (W. W. Norton, 2018); Behind My Eyes (W. W. Norton, 2008); and Book of My Nights (BOA Editions, 2001). The recipient of awards and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, Lannan Foundation, and Whiting Foundation, he lives in Chicago.

The Undressing
(W. W. Norton, 2018)

“I Doubt They Would Notice the Mustachioed Mans Wife” by
David Welch
read more

“Some Slippery Afternoon” by Daniela Gioseffi
read more

Thanks to Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press, 2019), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Read a Q&A about Kaminsky’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year
This free, daily series is made possible by our readers. If you’re able, please consider donating to support this work. 
Become a monthly sustainer
join
Make a one-time gift
donate
From Our Sponsors
Copyright © 2021 The Academy of American Poets, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:
The Academy of American Poets
75 Maiden Lane
St #901
New York, NY 10038

Add us to your address book


View this email in your browser

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Older messages

Poetry & Appetite, Poems for Human Rights Day, and more

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Support Poets.org December 7, 2021 Poems for Human Rights Day December 10 marks Human Rights Day, a global observation of the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration

from "The Trees Witness Everything" by Victoria Chang

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

They are not wisdom / or freedom or history. Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day December 7, 2021 from “The Trees Witness Everything” Victoria Chang The Wild Geese They are not wisdom or

"Dancing, before you were born" by J. Hope Stein

Monday, December 6, 2021

It was like the universal scene / for miscarriage Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day December 6, 2021 Dancing, before you were born J. Hope Stein It was like the universal scene for

"Appalling Heart" by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Sunday, December 5, 2021

City stir—wind on eardrum— / dancewind: herbstained— Poem-a-Day is reader-supported. Your gift today will help the Academy of American Poets continue to publish the work of 260 poets each year, and

"Winter with the Gulf Stream" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Saturday, December 4, 2021

The boughs, the boughs are bare enough, / But earth has not yet felt the snow. Poem-a-Day is reader-supported. Your gift today will help the Academy of American Poets continue to publish the work of

You Might Also Like

‘Gladiator II’ More Than Justifies Its Existence

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Plus: Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo's 'Wicked' press tour is full of happy tears. • Nov. 12, 2024 Up Next Your complete guide to industry-shaping entertainment news, exclusive

14 Riverside Drive by Glen Bullock

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Prose ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Two Chains

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

What Do You Think You're Looking At? #188 ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

"𐓷𐓘𐓻𐓘𐓻𐓟/Wahzhazhe/Osage" by Elise Paschen

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The first language / 𐓷𐓘𐓻𐓘𐓻𐓟 which Eliza, / her grandmother, spoke. Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day November 12, 2024 𐓷𐓘𐓻𐓘𐓻𐓟/Wahzhazhe/Osage Elise Paschen Wa-zha'-zhe, name of the

Can the real Dev Patel please stand up?

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

— Check out what we Skimm'd for you today November 12, 2024 Subscribe Read in browser But first: an early Black Friday sale on jewelry Update location or View forecast Quote of the Day "Yeah.

I'm Ditching My Ballet Flats For This Edgier Fall Shoe Trend

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The MVP of the season. The Zoe Report Daily The Zoe Report 11.11.2024 Well, after weeks of oddly warm weather, it finally feels like fall. As such, I'm seizing the opportunity to sport all my

Rihanna Wore "Cheugy" Skinny Jeans With Carrie Bradshaw's Go-To Bag

Monday, November 11, 2024

Plus, Taylor Swift's 'Reputation'-coded game day 'fit, sapphire blue nail art ideas, your horoscope, and more. Nov. 11, 2024 Bustle Daily November 2024 love horoscopes for each zodiac

The MIDDI Guide to Surviving the Holidays

Monday, November 11, 2024

Sharing my tips and finds for keeping the stress of the holiday season in check. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Can I Use Astrology to Play the Stock Market?

Monday, November 11, 2024

Today in style, self, culture, and power. The Cut November 11, 2024 MONEY Can I Use Astrology to Play the Stock Market? How day traders are looking to the stars for financial advice. Photo-Illustration

Is It Fair To Redevelop The Best Suburbs?

Monday, November 11, 2024

An interesting question of the possible versus the ideal ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏