I ASK MY MOTHER

2002
Signed Edition of 2
Unique pop-up structure
10 inches by 7 inches by 14.5 inches open
Hand painted pastepaper with acrylic, pencil and stencil by artist , silk ribbon ties
Water lily ~ Tivek paper with watercolor, nylon thread.
A Garamond Italic ~ Laser printed text on Florentine marble paper .
Edition No. 1~ Gift to Poet from Artist
Edition No. 2~ SOLD

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