Recently, we decided to study and gather brief wisdom quotes from proverbs, A.A. slogans, Tibetan Buddhist pith instructions, Buddhist mind training slogans, aphorisms, and even clichés. In this speeded-up world, wisdom is delivered in sound bites, memes, and YouTube videos rather than in dense philosophical books or arcane lectures. Anne Lamott's 2012 bestselling spiritual work had the succinct, sassy title Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. Many young people brag that if they do read, it is only headlines of magazines or newspapers.
Skip Maselli has been writing and reciting his mix of poetry, prose, quips and vignettes since he was 11 years old. In the preface of this book, he writes: "There is a saying in Russian, 'Kratkost sestra talanta,' which appropriately has no direct translation, but generally means, 'In order to share some wisdom, sayings do not have to be extensive.' " The idea for his collection of short poems began when he realized that some readers "prefer to read short things on which they can reflect, repost, or tweet. Each seems to tug at the imagination and musing of my friends, generating questions and speculations as to what these short passages mean. Perhaps the Russian proverb is correct, that the meaning of a poem is inversely proportional to its length."
Each of the "poemettes" in this fascinating and innovative paperback is 25 words. Brevity carries the day: "Sometimes they take 120 seconds to jot, sometimes an hour to write, sometimes years to finish, yet I can never completely understand a single poemette."
There are Sufi touches to his creative exploration of what he calls "mysticism, divine and human love, spiritual awakening, and socio-cultural and interpersonal musings." These poems are short and sweet — especially those who touch the heart. Here are three of our favorites:
Life Half Empty, Half Full
Time spent regretting yesterday
is balanced by
a longing to change tomorrow.
Life is half fulfilled
between what just happened
and what will happen next.
Who Is Poet?
Some of us
simply write the poems
we hear in the hearts of others.
So one must ask
who is the poet
and who is the listener?
Divine Inkling
We were given but a divine inkling
of what lies beyond mystery,
so that our minds might imagine
what only our hearts know for sure.
