this/that

BODY LANGUAGE

Ideas too have a body language -
the vocabulary they employ,
the choice of clichés or their avoidance,
their tempo and tonality...
in short: to a skilled reader
an idea can be as transparent
as the confession of a guilty butler in an English mystery.

*

MEAN WOMEN

A mean woman can teach a man
more about his vulnerabilities and limitations
than a thousand yataghan-wielding Turks.
If you survive such a specimen
you can survive anything!

*

PROBLEMS

A problem is like an illness.
The first step is to diagnose it correctly.
But if you pretend it doesn't exist,
you guarantee its deterioration from a minor nuisance
to a terminal disease.

*

SOCRATES

When asked where he came from,
Socrates is said to have replied:
"Not from Athens but from the world."
And yet, when he was condemned to death by the Athenians
and given an opportunity to escape,
he said he'd rather die in Athens than live anywhere else.

*

ON LIMITATIONS

We all go through a period in our lives
when the sky is the limit. But sooner or later
the painful realization sinks in:
we can't even reach the ceiling of our solitary confinement.

*

CRITICS

It makes no difference whether you are a failure or a success,
the number of critics will remain constant.
What may change is their caliber.
As a failure you will be trashed by trash.
As a success you will be trashed by a better class of trash.

*

SAROYAN AND MAILER

In one of his books Saroyan mentions
Norman Mailer ("Norman who?")
only to dismiss him as an upstart.
In his latest book, THE SPOOKY ART:
SOME THOUGHTS ON WRITING (2003)
Mailer discusses many minor and major American writers
but doesn't even mention Saroyan.
But in an isolated paragraph and
in reference to no one in particular, he writes:
"It's the guys who pen wonderfully sweet books,
who are the real monsters.
You know - they kick the wife,
cuff the kids, and have the dog shrinking in horror.
Then their books come out:
`X once again delights the reader with his sense of joy.'"