I ASK MY MOTHER TO SING (2002)

Signed Edition of 2
Unique pop-up structure
10”W by 7”H by 14.5” open
Hand painted paste paper with acrylic, pencil and stencil by artist, silk ribbon ties
Tyvek paper with watercolor and nylon thread.
Edition No. 1 – Gift to Poet LI YOUNG LEE

She begins, and my grandmother joins her.
Mother and daughter sing like young girls.
If my father were alive, he would play
his accordion and sway like a boat.

I’ve never been in Peking, or the Summer Palace,
nor stood on the great Stone Boat to watch
the rain begin on Kuen Ming Lake, the picnickers
running away in the grass.

But I love to hear it sung;
how the water lilies fill with rain until
they overturn, spilling water into water,
then rock back, and fill with more.

Both women have begun to cry.
But neither stops her song.

—Li Young Lee