Downsides of Fish Culture

The theme of lost innocence has been thoroughly explored since William Blake, but in his first book Lee gives this theme a contemporary edge. Lamenting his inability to make "anything tide [him] over until the next life," Lee's speaker captures the essence of a generation: the angst, the dysfunctions, and the tragedy "of our simple humanness?an evolutionary extension/ of what might become." Yet the poems do not fall into the trap of melodrama, instead projecting a ray of hope in a world in which "the barbed wire fence drip[s] blood." Many of the poems are ambitious without being overwritten. Lee knows when to hammer have a point and when to invoke humor. As a result, the speaker is able to "look back/ on those grub years with fondness." This volume of poetry belongs in every poetry collection.