Archive: April 2014

Thanks to Dan Costinas for bringing to my attention the aphorisms of Valeriu Butulescu, Romanian dramatist, poet, author and journalist whose aphorisms have been translated into more than 40 languages, including this selection in English:

A derailed tram considers itself independent.

Childhood. The only lost paradise.

Whenever I open my eyes, I am guilty of prying.

As a rule, after a high obstacle there comes an abyss.

We idolize eagles, although, hens are much more useful.

Swallows fly away in autumn. Crows remain, overwhelmed with responsibility.

According to his biography on The Academy of American Poets site, Richard Hugo “from a very early age took an interest in books, fishing, and baseball.” Hugo is the author of  The Triggering Town, his lectures and essays on the craft of writing poems, a book that has become something of a classic in creative writing courses. These aphorisms come from there.

If you ain’t no place you can’t go nowhere.

Think small. If you have a big mind, that will show itself. If you can’t think small, try philosophy or social criticism.

An imagined town is at least as real as an actual town.

Words love the ridiculous areas of our minds.

If you can answer the question, to ask it is to waste time.

Hope hard to fall always short of success.