This is the first English translation of selected poems by one of the
most important and unusual modern poets of South Korea. In contrast to
the strident political protests found in the poetry of many of his
contemporaries, Pak Chaesam's work is characterized by intimate
portraits of place, nature, childhood, and human relationships, and by
indirection, nostalgia, and reflectiveness.
Often focused upon the border of this world and some other, Pak writes
with a spareness of presentation but a cornucopia of imagery,
meticulously exploring objective and subjective realms of existence and
memory. Encouraging the reader to see and listen, and to allow the
sensory to reshape the analytical, Pak's poetry opens up new realms of
experience. A fellow Korean poet described Pak's poetry as being "the
most exquisite expression of the Korean sense of han," or melancholy.