An anti-war classic-"Handkerchief"
Lee later joined Li, Taiwan's first poetry society comprised of poets born in Taiwan. There he met a number of Taiwanese poets from the "language transition" generation, poets born in the 1920s such as Zhan Bing, Chen Chien-wu, Lin Heng-tai, and Jin Lian. The change in government had compelled these poets of the previous generation to abandon the Japanese language in which they were so adept, and make their stumbling way in Mandarin, feeling their way through its different poetic rhythms and structures like newborns. Stunned by the long, arduous process they'd put themselves through, Lee began to develop a consciousness of history, society, and the real world, and to grasp the currents of misfortune coursing through Taiwanese history.
"Handkerchief" gave Lee the sense that he'd "written a real poem," and set his work on a new path:
Your handkerchief sent back from the battlefield / Your handkerchief like a flag of truce / Your handkerchief that makes my tearstains grow / Pierces my heart like shrapnel
Your handkerchief sent back from the battlefield / Judges ordinary handkerchiefs / Your handkerchief begins the corruption of my youth / Buries me in a landslide / Deathly pale / A remnant of you / A seal / On my collapsing breast
Lee, who had never been to war, sparked discussion with his martial-law-era anti-war poems and became something of a spokesperson for his father's generation. In fact, Lee's own military service coincided with the end of the Vietnam War era, a period in which Taiwan keenly felt the communist threat and felt itself a part of a struggle with the Americans against a common adversary. American soldiers on leave seeking temporary release through wanton indulgence were all around, and American B-52s were constantly taking off from and landing at Taiwanese military bases.
Following his discharge, Lee began to write "war poems" and give voice to anti-war thoughts. Many critics believe that this period (1969-1971) marks the first important turning point in his work-from personal subjects to something more socially aware. The critic Peng Jui-chin discusses Lee's "Handkerchief" in "Bringing Light to the World: Poet Lee Min-yung":
This kind of war poem doesn't describe the cruelty of war; instead, it makes the reader feel it on his own. It doesn't write about injuries; the injuries are already present. It doesn't decry against war; war elicits loathing of its own accord. It is very different from the anti-war literature with which we are familiar, but that's what makes Lee Min-yung's anti-war poem interesting.
Lee's anti-war stance and his criticism of government arose out of his sympathy with human nature and life, and grew in step with his poetry. "No one has the right to deprive another person of life," says Lee. "Wars of aggression are evil because they leave people with no options and no opportunity to flee. They compel people to take up weapons and fight for their nation."
Revelation of Freedom, a collection of Lee's social and political commentary.