7 Comments
Aug 5Liked by The Rabbit Room

What a gift of a conversation, Ben! Li-Young Lee is one of the poets that affected me on a gut level. I love this interview, and I can't wait to see what love songs he writes next.

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Tremendous conversation — and what a thing to read today, on the eve of the election. Thank you for bringing this to us.

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Wow, what an interview, Ben! Thank you for this, this will stay with me.

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Thanks for this vulnerable conversation. I’m moved to think that everything Christ touches, be it art, an errant volleyball, a fountain, or a human heart, becomes woven into the fabric of the Christic, taking on a kind of Holiness through Him in the everyday. This makes me fall in love with Jesus all the more.

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Well this is a match of two poets who have impacted me deeply! I met Li-Young Lee once at Baylor. He spoke at the Beall Poetry Festival while I was a student in ‘08 or ‘09. He signed my book “Sister, May all worlds behind our eyes be at Peace,” and I’ve never forgotten it. They might all be signed that way, but it is beautiful! I am thankful.

This conversation gives me so much hope and awe. It is the prepared table in the presence of enemies where Christ beckons us to join Him. Come, sit and eat at the prepared table, no matter what darkness shrouds the edges of the room—it is finished. The table is set.

I offer the same prayer he offered me years ago—

Brother,

the worlds behind our eyes are at Peace. You are shining in the light of the glory of praising Him! May you lay in green pastures and sit beside quiet waters as He refreshes your soul in

His kingdom come

behind those peaceful eyes, even when He gently guides into darkest valleys; and may you see and continue to spring forth the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of His Word, who He is, and what He has done, even as the trees and mountains break forth into singing and joy all around you! He always finishes the purpose for which He sends His words. I extend my gratitude alongside you.

Peace,

Jackie

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"We have forgotten how to praise..." Lee's rhapsodies are so rich, so good. He is helping us remember.

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Wow, the riches of this conversation have utterly stopped me. Getting to hear Li-Young Lee in the midst of a crisis, a turning point, is such a feast for the soul. It’s as if his entering profoundly, deeply into the reality of “it is finished” accomplishes his beautiful conclusion in “From Blossoms” (one of my favorite poems): “There are days we live/ as if death were nowhere/ in the background, from joy/ to joy to joy…” Oh to take what we love inside indeed!

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