Persimmons

“Persimmons” is a free verse poem by Chinese American author Li-Young Lee. The poem was originally part of Lee’s first collection, Roses, published in 1986. Lee’s poetry is influenced by Eastern and Western poetic traditions, such as Tang Dynasty, Romantic, and American confessional. Nevertheless, “Persimmons,” like much of Lee’s work, exists outside of the traditions and movements that influenced it, developing an independent Asian American poetic voice.

“Persimmons” navigates the space between Asian and American identities. The poem’s speaker is a Chinese immigrant who grows up an imperfect speaker of English and Chinese. “Persimmons” shares the speaker’s sense of linguistic exile, focusing on how language shapes one’s identity and one’s connection with others. “Persimmons” remains one of Lee’s most anthologized and celebrated poems.

Poet Biography

Li-Young Lee was born August 19, 1957, in Jakarta, Indonesia to an ethnically Chinese family. Lee’s maternal great-grandfather was Yuan Shikai, China's first Republican President who attempted to restore hereditary monarchy in China and name himself emperor. Lee’s father was one of Communist leader Mao Zedong’s personal physicians, and was forced to flee to Indonesia for political reasons. Lee and his family moved from Indonesia to Hong Kong, Macau, and Japan, before settling in Pennsylvania in 1964, where his father became a Presbyterian minister.