A Review of John Robert Lee's Collected Poems 1975-2015

COLLECTED POEMS 1975-2015 by John Robert Lee represents one man’s spiritual journey meandering through thorny labyrinths of faith, “from inner city provinces to southern islands of Amerika” (“Challenger”). This journey began long before 1975: when a young Lee witnessed his father, Alleyne, relishing a dessert of fresh ripe mangoes on a Sunday afternoon and began to contemplate seriously his romance with the written word.

FORGOTTEN STELAE


A kind of self blessing spawns in the glare, 
torn from reflections across a drain where 
raindrops gather to feed water hyacinths. 
Feeding eyes sweep across a bridge in ruins,
narrowing perspectives toward 
horizons where the sea hides other island 
ridges—