Flowers of a Moment (Lannan Translations Selection Series)

"Bodhisattva of Korean poetry, exuberant, demotic, abundant, obsessed with poetic creation . . . Ko Un is a magnificent poet, combination of Buddhist cognoscente, passionate political libertarian, and naturalist historian."—Allen Ginsberg "Korea's greatest living Zen poet."—Lawrence Ferlinghetti Flowers of a Moment is a treasure trove of more than 180 brief poems by a major world poet at the apex of his career. A four-time Nobel Prize nominee, Ko Un grew up in Korea during the Japanese occupation. During the Korean War, he was conscripted by the People's Army. In 1952, he became a Buddhist and lived a monastic life for ten years. For his activism confronting South Korea's dictatorial military government, he was imprisoned and tortured. He has published more than one hundred volumes of poetry, essays, fiction, drama, and translations of Chinese poetry. At sunset a wish to become a wolf beneath a fat full moon “Bodhisattva of Korean poetry, exuberant, demotic, abundant, obsessed with poetic creation . . . Ko Un is a magnificent poet, combination of Buddhist cognoscente, passionate political libertarian, and naturalist historian.”—Allen Ginsberg "Korea's greatest living Zen poet."—Lawrence Ferlinghetti *Flowers of a Moment* (Korean: *Sun'gan ui kkot*) is a treasure trove of more than 180 brief poems by a major world poet at the apex of his career. A four-time Nobel Prize nominee, Ko Un grew up in Korea during the Japanese occupation. During the Korean War, he was conscripted by the People's Army. In 1952, he became a Buddhist and lived a monastic life for ten years. For his activism confronting South Korea's dictatorial military government, he was imprisoned and tortured. He has published more than one hundred volumes of poetry, essays, fiction, drama, and translations of Chinese poetry. Flowers of a Moment, Ko Un's latest treasure trove, spans a stunning range of feeling, intelligence, and expression. This book features 185 brief zen poems from a four-time Nobel Prize nominee and Korea's most beloved contemporary poet. These are deft sketches by a literary giant at the apex of his career. The spell these poems cast has the primal power of a shaman drum solo, as intimate with life as standing before a waterfall, as vitalizing and tonic as the best ginseng, as subtle and refreshing as the freshest green tea. 180 brief zen poems from Korea's most beloved poet and four-time Nobel Prize nominee