“Early in the Morning” by Li-Young Li

After reading the poem, “Early in the Morning” by Li-Young Li, you receive a feeling of admiration and a sense of love from the narrator. The narrator seems to appear as a small child who watches the exchanges of love between his or her mother and father. The poem also shows a routine each morning for the family, the mother combs her long hair before the birds start chirping and while kitchen noises flow throughout the house. There is a sense of serenity in the piece as it focuses on the mother using the same comb each day brushing her hair and putting it in a bun. It’s as if she’s holding everything in place when she puts her hair up. There may also be a sense of worry about change, perhaps if she changed one aspect of herself, events would follow and the love would stray. An interesting part was when the speaker said, “Easily like the curtains when they tie them in the evening”. This quote may mean that they have a façade of routine and structure, yet when no one is around, the parents let everything happen on its own in a more free and spiritual way.