|
 A
philosophy of a close link between the subjectivity of
the fine arts and the objective world of science made Piet
Hein (1905-1996) one of the most original Danes
of the 20th century. P. Hein was indeed a manysided man
in the best sense: he was philosopher, mathematician, designer,
scientist, game inventor and author! He also created a
new form of poetry he called 'Grook' ("gruk" in
Danish). Piet defined art as a way of thinking about all
subjects, so for him 'being a poet' was only one outlet
for his astonishing creativity. He asserted in his philosophical
writings that the great cultural divide was not between
the haves and the have-nots, but between
the knows and the know-nots.
P.
Hein wrote over 10,000 of grooks, most in Danish or English,
published in more than 60 books. Some say that the name
is short for 'GRin & sUK' ("laugh & sigh",
in Danish), but Piet said he felt that the word had come
out of thin air. His grooks or gruks first started to appear
in the daily newspaper "Politiken" in April 1940
- shortly after the Nazi occupation - under the Old Norse
pseudonym 'Kumbel' meaning "tombstone". In more
exact terms, grooks are small aphoristic verses characterized
by irony, paradox, brevity, precise use of language, sophisticated
rhythms and rhymes, revealing in a minimum of words and
with a minimum of lines some basic truth about the human
condition. Grooks were meant as a spirit-building... In
fact, those light, tiny poems - that sound almost like
mental improvisations - exorcice the feeling of void or
anxiety arising from our unquiet modern times.
 Amongst
Hein's many intriguing creations are the games of Hex,
Tangloids, Morra, Tower, Polytaire, TacTix, Pyramystery,
and the Soma
cube. He advocated the use of the super ellipse curve
(see the superellipse opposite along with its math formula)
in city planning, furniture making and other realms. He
also invented a perpetual calendar called the Astro Calendar.
We've
collected below just some of the thousands of Grooks that
Piet wrote in his lifetime (all text and illustrations
are owned by Piet
Hein a/s, DK-5500 Middelfart, Denmark).
To end with an anecdotal fact... Curiously enough, Piet
Hein was a direct descendant
of the 17th Century Dutch
privateer of the same name!
GROOKS
by Piet Hein
© Piet
Hein Grooks - Reprinted with kind permission from
Piet
Hein a/s, DK-5500 Middelfart, Denmark
ARS
BREVIS
There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness. |
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.
|
ASTRO-GYMNASTICS
Go
on a starlit night,
stand on your head,
leave your feet dangling
outwards into space,
and let the starry
firmament you tread
be, for the moment,
your elected base.
Feel Earth's colossal weight
of ice and granite,
of molten magma,
water, iron, and lead;
and briefly hold
this strangely solid planet
balanced upon
your strangely solid head.
|
THE
PARADOX OF LIFE
A bit beyond perception's reach
I sometimes believe I see
that Life is two locked boxes, each
containing the other's key. |
T. T. T.
Put up in a place
where it's easy to see
the cryptic admonishment
T. T. T.
When
you feel how depressingly
slowly you climb,
it's well to remember that
Things Take Time! |
 |
EXPERTS
Experts
have
their expert fun
ex cathedra
telling one
just how nothing
can be done.
|
ATOMYRIADES
Nature,
it seems, is the popular name
for milliards and milliards and milliards
of particles playing their infinite game
of billiards and billiards and billiards.
|
PAST
PLUPERFECT
The
past, -- well, it's just like
our Great-Aunt Laura,
who cannot or will not perceive
that though she is welcome,
and though we adore her,
yet now it is time to leave.
|
MAKING
SENSE
Life
makes senses
and who could doubt it,
if we have
no doubt about it.
|
MEETING THE EYE
You'll
probably find
that it suits your book
to be a bit cleverer
than you look.
Observe that the easiest
method by far
is to look a bit stupider
than you are.
|
A
PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP
Whenever
you're called on to make up your mind,
and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.
No -- not so that chance shall decide the affair
while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you're hoping.
|
IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN
A
poet should be of the
old-fahioned meaningless brand:
obscure, esoteric, symbolic,
-- the critics demand it;
so if there's a poem of mine
that you do understand
I'll gladly explain what it means
till you don't understand it.
|
 |
OUT
OF TIME
(A holiday thought)
My
old clock used to tell the time
and subdivide diurnity;
but now it's lost both hands and chime
and only tells eternity.
|
LIVING
IS...
Living
is
a thing you do
now or never --
which do you?
|
A MOMENT'S THOUGHT
As
eternity
is reckoned
there's a lifetime
in a second.
|
SMALL
THINGS
& GREAT
He
that lets
the small things bind him
leaves the great
undone behind him.
|
THOSE WHO KNOW
Those who always
know what’s best
are
a universal pest. |
SIMILARITY
Commutative Law
No cow's like a horse,
and no horse like a cow.
That's one similarity
anyhow. |
REMEDIES' REMEDIES
Pills are useful
against ills
and against
too many pill. |
The man who is only a poet is not even that. |
DREAM INTERPRETATION
Simplified.
Everything's either
concave or -vex,
so whatever you dream
will be something with sex.
|
SOCIAL MECHANISM
When
people always
try to take
the very smallest
piece of cake
how can it also
always be
that that's the one
that's left for me?
|
ON PROBLEMS
Our
choicest plans
have fallen through,
our airiest castles
tumbled over,
because of lines
we neatly drew
and later neatly
stumbled over.
|
NAIVE
Naive
you are
if you believe
life favours those
who aren't naive.
|
TIMING TOAST
There's
an art of knowing when.
Never try to guess.
Toast until it smokes and then
twenty seconds less.
|
© Piet
Hein Grooks - Reprinted with kind permission from
Piet
Hein a/s, DK-5500 Middelfart, Denmark |
|
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