Intricacy Of Simplicity In Li-Young Lee's From Blossoms

Kim Tran
Martha Silano
English 101
January 27, 2015
The Intricacy of Simplicity in Li-Young Lee’s “From Blossoms”
At first glance, the poem tells a story about the speaker buying peaches at a roadside stand and eating them on a nice summer day. Upon further reading, the story begins to unfold and the layers begin to reveal a profound hidden meaning. The imagery of the speaker eating fruit soon dissipates as the reader’s thoughts begin to ponder about life. How did a simple everyday experience just become so complex? “From Blossoms” is an exhibit of how a simple indulgence such as eating peaches on the side of the road correlates to the beautiful sentiment of savoring every moment in life.
To begin with, Lee paints a picture of how the peaches went from blossoms to being sold at the roadside stand, and then on to him taking the first bite and how wonderful it is. Lee states this in “From blossoms comes/this brown paper bag of peaches/we bought from the boy” (1-2) coupled

with “comes nectar at the roadside/succulent/peaches we devour” (8-9). At this point, readers can envision him eating peaches on a nice relaxed summer day. The excerpt “succulent peaches we devour/ dusty skin and all” (8-9) describes how much delight he takes in every bite of the peach. In essence, he is saying that people should enjoy every facet of life as he enjoys eating peaches so much that he leaves no part of it uneaten including the skin.
Furthermore, Lee writes about his calm day of blissfully consuming his beloved peaches while continuing to delve deeper into how it relates to life. In the line “comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat,” (10) he reflects on living each day to the fullest and taking every aspect of it in. The “dust” of summer would be the days of summer, and by “eat” he means live. Lee effortlessly transforms his minimal sketch into a thought provoking work of art with subtlety throughout the poem.
As the poem goes on, Lee’s analogy of eating a delicious peach and seizing every single day becomes even more apparent.

He not only describes the act of eating his favorite fruit, but is describing how it’s possible to take so much pleasure indulging in something that seems insignificant. The loving tone in the lines “The fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into/the round, jubilance of peach” (15-16) demonstrates how much the author appreciates the moment that is being experienced. In the excerpt “to eat/not only the skin, but the shade/not only the sugar, but the days” (11-13) Lee is telling the reader to savor each and every part of the fruit as they should every moment of each day. As can be seen in the last stanza, Lee writes “There are days we live/as if death were nowhere” (17-18) to stress the importance of his sentiment on reveling in the delicacy of everyday life and not letting the thoughts of death ruin any precious moments that may

occur.
As shown above, Lee skillfully illustrates the magnitude of beauty in simplicity throughout his poem. He uses the mundane act of eating fruit on a roadside to remind readers to appreciate the minor things in life. The poem’s tone is relaxed and loving, but also pleasantly pensive. Lee expresses this each time as he describes his joy of devouring every fiber of an exquisite peach as a reminder to enjoy each precious second of life. The repetition of the last line “From blossom to blossom to/impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom” (21-22) elegantly emphasizes the poem’s message about relishing in the simple pleasures of life and leaves a lasting impression.
Work Cited:
Lee, Li-Young. “From Blossoms.” The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food & Drink. Ed. Kevin (indent)Young. New York: Bloombury USA, 2012. 300. Print.