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 poetsThat summer I stood in the centers of storms   That summer my despair burst out into crimson but still I weathered the wind and rainMountains, 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 sufferingThe poems of That Summer’s End, though acutely conscious of the self, are free of an inhibiting self-consciousness, speaking directly of youth, love, fear, family, grief, old age, impermanence, and all that’s central to life. As enticing as they are profound, Lee Seong-bok’s poems have made him not only a poet’s poet but a favorite of RM, leader of K-pop superstars BTS, whose support of his work on social media has brought him international attention.

A collection of meditations on poetry, art and life, taken from the creative writing lectures of one of South Korea’s most prominent living poets'Kick against words like you would kick back on a swing. You’ve got to feel as if the soles of your feet are touching the sky.'These 470 aphorisms, collected by his students, are evocative micropoems in their own right. Some express ideas at once familiar and breathtakingly new – truths we could sense but not put into words. Others unfurl fresh vistas and offer worlds to explore in their exciting and inspiring poetics. Together, they offer an invigorating and original answer to the questions: How – and why – do we write at all? What does it mean to create? And how should we see the world?

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 poetsThat summer I stood in the centers of storms   That summer my despair burst out into crimson but still I weathered the wind and rainMountains, 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 sufferingThe poems of That Summer’s End, though acutely conscious of the self, are free of an inhibiting self-consciousness, speaking directly of youth, love, fear, family, grief, old age, impermanence, and all that’s central to life. As enticing as they are profound, Lee Seong-bok’s poems have made him not only a poet’s poet but a favorite of RM, leader of K-pop superstars BTS, whose support of his work on social media has brought him international attention.

A collection of meditations on poetry, art and life, taken from the creative writing lectures of one of South Korea’s most prominent living poets'Kick against words like you would kick back on a swing. You’ve got to feel as if the soles of your feet are touching the sky.'These 470 aphorisms, collected by his students, are evocative micropoems in their own right. Some express ideas at once familiar and breathtakingly new – truths we could sense but not put into words. Others unfurl fresh vistas and offer worlds to explore in their exciting and inspiring poetics. Together, they offer an invigorating and original answer to the questions: How – and why – do we write at all? What does it mean to create? And how should we see the world?