Flowers of a Moment

Winner of the 2007 Northern California Book Award in Translation

Flowers of a Moment, Ko Un's latest treasure trove, is a recital of a stunning range of feeling, intellection, and expression featuring 180 brief zen poems from Korea's most beloved poet and four-time Nobel Prize nominee. These are intimate sketches by a literary giant at the apex of his career, in the autumn of his life. The effect of these poems is as subtle as the freshest green tea, as tonic as the best ginseng, as powerful as a shaman drum solo, as intimate as a standing before a waterfall. This edition also features a dozen inkbrush calligraphies by the poet, done especially for the english-language edition. "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

In the old days a poet once said

In the old days a poet once said
our nation is destroyed
yet the mountains and rivers survive

Today's poet says
the mountains and rivers are destroyed
yet our nation survives

Tomorrow's poet will say
the mountain's and rivers are destroyed
our nation is destroyed and Alas!
you and I are completely destroyed
 

© BOA Editions, Ltd 2006

Available editions:
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Cloth ISBN: 978-1-929918-87-4
Price: $25.95
Publishing Date: September 2006
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-929918-88-1
Price: $17.95
Publishing Date: September 2006