That Summer's End

One hundred and six poems of self-reflection and exquisite beauty—an intoxicating blend of Seon Buddhism and French Symbolism from one of South Korea's most celebrated and influential poets.

That summer I stood in the centers of storms.
That summer my despair burst out into crimson but still I weathered the wind and rain.
Mountains, rivers, trees, flowers, the dark, a cat, a train.

In the elemental forms and figures of our world, Lee Seong-bok finds repositories for thought, sounding boards against which he can test his reflections. Again and again, in sequences, he probes his subjects—five “Mountain Path” poems, three “River” poems, three commentaries on the I Ching—not to solicit answers, like Moses impatiently striking the rock for water, but to savor the muted tones that echo in response.

After one ruckus / begins another / The silent forest vibrates.
Suffering was always / new suffering.