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Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
That Summer's End: Poems

That Summer's End: Poems

Hardcover

General Poetry

Publisher Price: $30.00

ISBN10: 0593804031
ISBN13: 9780593804032
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Published: Aug 4 2026
Pages: 128
Weight: 0.65
Height: 0.70 Width: 6.10 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
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

The 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.

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General Poetry