ARS BREVIS: There is/one art,/no more,/no less:/to do/all things/with art-/lessness
Piet Hein died in 1996 at the ripe age of 91. A Danish scientist and mathematician who "played mental ping-pong with Neils Bohr" (!) he is better known as the brilliant inventor of "grooks". These are pithy, insightful and brief poems that Piet invented to get around the censors in World War II. They went on to become Denmark's much-beloved contribution to the world of letters. Twenty volumes of grooks were published, but were out of print until a 2-volume 'collected works' was published in Denmark in 2002. I paid $1.50 for the copy I show on the left. (Yes, it was a long time ago :)). It is listed at $93.43 'new'on Amazon, showing that Piet Hein has aged well.
Visit Terry Stewart's website page Grooks by Piet Hein to get a great sampling of his work. Here are a few that I like:
THE ROAD TO WISDOM: The road to wisdom? -- Well it's plain/and simple to express:/Err/and err/and err again/but less/and less/and less.
I'D LIKE --: I'd like to know/what this whole show/is all about/before it's out.
TIMING TOAST (Grook on how to char for yourself): There's an art of knowing when./Never try to guess./Toast until it smokes and then/twenty seconds less.
PRESENCE OF MIND: You''ll conquer the present/suspiciously fast/if you smell of the future/-- and stink of the past.
PRESCRIPTION: A bit/of virtue/will never/hurt you.
CONSOLATION GROOK: Losing one glove/is certainly painful,/but nothing/compared to the pain,/of losing one,/throwing away the other,/and finding/the first one again.
VITA BREVIS: A lifetime/is more/than/sufficiently long/for people to get what there is of it/wrong.
THOSE WHO KNOW: Those who always/know what's best/are/a universal pest.
Digg