Central Florida Community College is offering a great opportunity to see and listen to an extraordinary poet.
Li-Young Lee will discuss and read his poetry, as part of the Debra Vazquez Memorial Poetry Series, at 7 p.m. on Feb. 1 at the CFCC Fine Arts Auditorium.
Here’s a little of how Alison Granucci describes his poetry on www.blueflowerarts.com: “Through the observation and translation of often unassuming and silent moments, the poetry of Li-Young Lee gives clear voice to the solemn and extraordinary beauty found within humanity. … Anyone who has seen him read will add that Lee is also one of the finest poetry readers alive.”
The Web site includes an example of his poetry and audio of Lee reading a few poems. Listen. And then you’ll know whether you want attend the reading on Feb. 1.
CFCC English professor Kay Wilcox and Vazquez, a gifted local poet and CFCC professor who was murdered in 2004, had heard Lee doing a reading at a writer’s conference in St. Petersburg in 2003.
“Debra and I both were simply awed when we heard him,” Wilcox said.
The poetry reading is free and open to the public, but Wilcox said organizers will likely ask for a donation of $5 to $10 to help assure the funding for future readings. She said in an e-mail that the memorial poetry series is funded through the CFCC Teaching Learning Institute, and the Attie G. Brannan Memorial, James L. Copeland, and Elton & Gladys Stanaland Memorial endowed grants.