(rhythm, form, line break, voice)

Look at the birds. Even flying

is born

out of nothing. The first sky

is inside you, open

at either end of day.

The work of wings

was always freedom, fastening

one heart to every falling thing.

–

Lee uses line breaks to give the poem a sparse open rhythm like the sky itself. Like looking up into the sky and seeing birds or small flocks dotting the sky, instead you see words and small phrases dotting the page and air in which the poem is heard. The line breaks also draw attention to these specific phrases so that while not only in context of the sentence do they communicate, but standing alone they offer an additional or complimentary layer of meaning.

–

 

One Heart by Li-Young Lee (Vintage Book of Contemporary Poetry, p. 584)

Look at the birds. Even flying

is born

 

 

 

out of nothing. The first sky

is inside you, open

 

at either end of day.

The work of wings

 

was always freedom, fastening

one heart to every falling thing.

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