A. Robert Lee's latest poetry collection, IMAGINARIUM: SIGHTINGS, GALLERIES, SIGHTLINES, revolves around two central themes: imagination and sight. Each section delves into how we perceive and envision reality on a wide-ranging scale. The opening section, "Sightings," focuses on a selection of renowned paintings by artists such as J.M.W. Turner and Frida Kahlo. "Galleries" broadens the traditional definition of the term to encompass perspectives from various locations, including a French archaeological cave, a crossing of the Bosphorus Straits, and a Tokyo station. "Sightlines" presents a series of personal experiences set against the backdrop of various buildings and landscapes, such as different Metro stations, a prominent Japanese waterfall, and Beale Street in Memphis. IMAGINARIUM also examines alternative forms of seeing, featuring poems that use bird flight as symbols of imagination, the significance of air travel as a metaphor for personal journeys, elements of Science Fiction films that depict other worlds, a collection of American photography, and the concept of imagination itself as a process to be contemplated. Ultimately, the reader is encouraged to engage in a reciprocal relationship where imagination and sight inform and enhance one another.
