Somewhere between Yubari and Cold Mountain

This book of free verse poetry are the reflections of a life journey, yet to be completed. Grounded in the experiences of everyday life and at the barriers of justice and peace demonstrations and movements, they take the reader places they have not been. The background of dual practice of both Christianity and Buddhism are here as the author continues his work on being a warrior poet. As a colleague, has written about the book, Bob Ko shin has written a book informed by a lifetime of awareness that all warrior poets are trying to find a vantage point from which to stand that allows for clear witness. This larger vision allows for the strategic use of words to give voice to those who have no voice. The poems question the trajectory of contemporary history that allows for human suffering and shows the poet's struggle to see, "who is responsible." Ko shin's poems are frequently stripped down and naked of the clutter of devices, as he faces the core of the issues of turbulence and peace. He comes back to the necessity for discernment, of the warrior poet's necessity for strategic speaking out from a grounding place. No matter how irrational the pain of the human path may seem, Ko shin finds comfort: