Yi Sŏng-bok has been hailed as one of the most important contemporary South Korean poets. His first collection of poems, When Does a Rolling Stone Awaken, published in 1980, is a trenchant critique of the state of mind of Koreans and of the social and political conditions in the country at the time. His second collection, South Sea, Silk Mountain, is a softer, quieter, more intimate book. This volume presents a translation of the collections in both Korean and English text, including interviews with the author.