I Ask My Mother to Sing

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1986

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Related Poems

"Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes (1922)

Like Lee’s poem, Langston Hughes’s poem includes a mother in the title. The mothers are important in both poems. In Lee’s poem, the singing of the mom and grandma communicates pain and resilience. In Hughes’s poem, the words of the speaker’s mom articulate hardship and fortitude. In both poems, the matriarchal figures and the speakers have clearly defined roles. Lee listens to his mom and grandma’s song, and Hughes absorbs his mom’s life lessons. Lee doesn’t sing with them, and Hughes doesn’t talk back to his mom.

"The Catholic Bells" by William Carlos Williams (1935)

Williams’s poem from the early part of the 20th century has a lot in common with Lee’s poem from the 1980s. As with Lee, Williams builds his poem with deliberate free verse. There is no rhyme scheme or prescribed meter, yet all stanzas are quatrains, and each line features around five to eight syllables. In Lee’s poem, the singing of his mom and grandma generates the images. In Williams’s poem, the sound of the church bells creates the images. The speakers in both poems retain their distance. Apart from not identifying as a Catholic, little is known about the speaker in “The Catholic Bells.” Williams and Lee minimize their personal emotion and maximize the images.

"Eating Together" by Li-Young Lee (1986)

In Rose, “Eating Together” is the poem that comes right before “I Ask My Mother to Sing.” In “I Ask My Mother to Sing,” Lee explicitly states that his dad is not alive. In “Eating Together,” Lee illuminates his dad’s death with a simile. He says his dad went to sleep “like a snow-covered road” (Line 10). The nuanced image of the road matches the detailed image of the waterlilies and rain in “I Ask My Mother to Sing.” “Eating Together” also features Lee’s mom and a clinical, even tone.

"Resurrection" by Sally Wen Mao (2019)

While Lee’s poem alludes to hardships associated with his Chinese identity, Mao’s poem explicitly references the marginalization and alienation endured by Chinese people. Lee tries to grapple with his past in “I Ask My Mother Sing.” In “Resurrection,” a poster for a museum exhibit on the New York City subway compels Mao to ruminate on the history of the Chinese diaspora. Lee and Mao seem to aim for some type of stability, and Mao is not shy about putting forward her personal emotions on how Chinese people are depicted and portrayed in the United States.

Further Literary Resources

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai (2011)

Intended for young readers, Thanhha Lai’s autobiographical verse novel features many of the complex concepts that are present in Lee’s poem. Lee’s poem and Lai’s verse novel address family, dislocation, and the dynamics of Asian identity. Like Lee’s speaker, Kim Ha, the young girl who narrates Lai’s novel, has to leave her homeland, Vietnam, due to the violence and political turmoil of the Vietnam War. Similar to Lee, Lai uses verse to construct concise images. Unlike Lee’s speaker, Lai’s protagonist showcases a robust personality.

Breaking the Alabaster Jar: Conversations with Li-Young Lee edited by Earl G. Ingersoll (2006)

Breaking the Alabaster Jar features extensive conversations and interviews with Lee, his family, and other poets. The book provides insight into Lee’s personal life and his stances on poetry and art. Lee shares stories about his mother and father and explains how his experiences have shaped his poems.

The Winged Seed: A Remembrance by Li-Young Lee (1995)

The Winged Seed is Li-Young Lee’s memoir of his and his family’s hardships. Lee focuses on the persecution his family faced in Jakarta, Indonesia. He documents his father’s time as a political prisoner and his family’s escape from a prison colony. Arriving in the United States, Lee narrates what life was like for him and his family in Chicago, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. As with “I Ask My Mother to Sing,” family and music play a pivotal role in this work of nonfiction.

I Remember by Joe Brainard (2001)

First published in 1970, and then updated over the years, Joe Brainard’s book-length poem I Remember catalogs his miscellaneous memories. As with Lee’s poem, Brainard’s work speaks to the past and the power of recollection. Like Lee, Brainard utilizes deliberate free verse. Each memory/stanza starts with the words “I remember.” Unlike Lee’s poem, Brainard’s memories are bawdy, as he remembers experiences with sex, drugs, and lowbrow pop culture. Like Lee, Brainard uses poetry to make sense of his history and identity.

Listen to Poem

Li-Young Lee reads “I Ask My Mother to Sing”

Li-Young Lee reads his poem “I Ask My Mother to Sing” for The Poetry Breaks, a video series that aired in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Before reading the poem, Lee provides a few autobiographical details about his mom and the importance of song.