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Every time you write a poem it’s apocalyptic. You’re revealing who you really are to yourself.
Li-Young Lee
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Writing poetry exposes one's inner self and truths.

This quote by Li-Young Lee highlights the profound nature of poetry as a form of self-exploration and revelation. Each poem acts as a personal apocalypse, unveiling hidden emotions, thoughts, and aspects of the self that one may not fully comprehend until they are expressed through the written word, suggesting that the act of creation is both transformative and illuminating.

Themes

PoetrySelf-DiscoveryTruthExpressionIdentity

In practice

Example use cases

In a poetry workshop, to encourage participants to explore their inner thoughts.

More from Li-Young Lee

There are days we live_x000D_ as if death were nowhere_x000D_ in the background; from joy _x000D_ to joy to joy, from wing to wing,_x000D_ from blossom to blossom to_x000D_ impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.
Li-Young LeeRead
Brimming. That's what it is, I want to get to a place where my sentences enact brimming.
Li-Young LeeRead
A bruise, blue in the muscle, you impinge upon me. As bone hugs the ache home, so I'm vexed to love you, your body the shape of returns, your hair a torso of light, your heat I must have, your opening I'd eat, each moment of that soft-finned fruit, inverted fountain in which I don't see me.
Li-Young LeeRead

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