Grook

Grook

A grook ("gruk" in Danish) is a form of short aphoristic poem. It was invented by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein. He wrote over 7,000 of them, most in Danish or English, published in 20 volumes. Some say that the name is short for "GRin & sUK" ("laugh & sigh" in Danish), but Piet Hein said he felt that the word had come out of thin air. His "gruks" first started to appear in the daily newspaper "Politiken" shortly after the Nazi Occupation in April 1940 under the signature Kumbel Kumbell. The poems were meant as a spirit-building, yet slightly coded form of passive resistance against Nazi occupation during World War II. The grook are characterized by irony, paradox, brevity, precise use of language, sophisticated rhythms and rhymes and often satiric nature.

:ASSY-METRY:There's nothing that goads:Like no-passing roads:With a slowpoke in front:And a hot rod in back —:'Cause you'd never speed:It's just that you need:To get past that grunt :And away from that devil on crack.:— Anon.

:DRIVE ON:"Schadenfreude Grook":"Flare spoor, white powdery burns::Like funerals without the urns.:Mark the passages of lives before eyes:And the uttering of inhuman cries.:Still we're always glad to see'um,:Cause it means we didn't be'em.:— Anon.

:THE ROAD TO WISDOM?:Well, it's plain:and simple to express.:Err and err and err again,:but less and less and less.:— Piet Hein.

External links

* [http://chat.carleton.ca/~tcstewar/grooks/grooks.html Grooks by Piet Hein]
* [http://www.villastabbia.it/Eng/Piet-Hein-Villa-Stabbia.htm The Grooks by Piet Hein at Agriturismo Villa Stabbia]


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