Lee sees writing poetry as a completely solitary process. As he once put it: “ Writing poetry begins with planting a seed in your mind. Once it sprouts, you have to put everything you have into looking out for it, carefully midwifing its birth and making sure nothing interferes with it.
他曾如此比喻：「寫詩就像先在心中種下一顆種子，等到發芽時，必須專心一意地照顧它，不讓它受到干擾，小心地把它『接生』出來。