Review 1: Grooks 2, Piet Hein

13/01/07 17:54 Filed in: Books
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My dad gave me (or I forcibly inherited) his volumes of Piet Hein's Grooks when I was pretty young, and they have always had a strong impression on me. The Grook is his own creation, sort of a Scandinavian answer to the haiku - a short, humourous and aphoristic poem that for my money is vastly superior to the intangibility of Japanese nuance. More than that, these poems were used as a form of code for members of the Danish resistance during WWII, of which Hein was a leader in hiding. When was the last time you heard of poems being used to fight soldiers? Hein was also interesting because he didn't fall for the usual science vs art bullshit. He was a scientist by trade, even discovering that the super-ellipse (which is essentially a oval and a rectangle at the same time) is one of the most efficient and pleasing shapes for design, making a profound contribution to Scandinavian style (think Ikea).

For some reason I didn't have the 2nd volume, so when I saw it in Vancouver on New Year's eve I snapped it up. The whole book can be read in a sitting as there are only 53 poems, each less than a page long. Each poem is accompanied by one of Hein's own drawings, which unfortunately I can't reproduce for you here. Nevertheless, I'll let some of my favourites speak for themselves.

Thoughts on a Station Platform

It ought to be plain
how little you gain
by getting excited
and vexed.
You'll always be late
for the previous train,
and always in time
for the next.

The Untenable Argument

My adversary's argument
is not alone malevolent
but ignorant to boot.
He hasn't even got the sense
to state his so-called evidence
in terms I can refute.

What Love is Like

Love is like
a pineapple,
sweet and
undefinable.

The State

Nature, our father and mother,
gave us all we got.
The state, our elder brother,
swipes the lot.

The Slot Machine
(A contribution to the psychology of disappointment)

Yes, life is a gamble;
but isn't it mean
that you're never the one
to win it,
when the thing is
a coin-in-the-slot machine
and you did
put a shirt-button in it.

Timing Toast
(Grook on how to char for yourself)

There's an art to knowing when.
Never try to guess.
Toast it until it smokes and then
20 seconds less.

That's Why

Why do bad writers
win the fight?
Why do good writers
die in need?
Because the writers
who can't write
are read by readers
who can't read.

The Unattainable Ideal

We ought to live
each day as though
it were our last day
here below.

But if I did, alas,
I know
it would have killed me
long ago.

I am invariably attracted to his funny ones, but all of them are really good. Looking around on the net, it appears that there are more than 5 volumes but they are out of print. That said, I have found them in used books stores. I'll post more from this volume by request.
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