The Invention of the Darling Norton

Lee’s exhilarating seventh collection (after The Undressing) continues his journey into the sacred. With quicksilver agility, the poet moves between the role of son, father, lover, disciple, and teacher: “Have I said anything you didn’t already know?” A rigorous insistence on apophatic ways of knowing—“I too am bereft of means/ and must wait for God/ to finish this poem”—tips into rapturous certainty: “Wonderment without a single expectation,/ marvel free of questions, amazement not tied to doubt.” Parental devotion is absolute: “My mother’s stories are my stories forever”; “I dream upon my father’s dreams.” Addressing the beloved, the poet asks, “Did my desire to know you give rise to this body?/ Did you desire to be known call/ this body into being?” Romantic love assumes the attitude of prayer: “if cupping your face/ between the halves of my heart/ means those twin sepals never mending,/ may my heart remain broken forever.” The poet names his calling even as he gently disavows mastery: “Any wonder/ I set out on earth/ to learn to sing.” In his most overtly mystical book to date, Lee achieves a bracing radiance. (May)