bits & pieces

Courtesy The Writer’s Almanac:

- Karl Shapiro, whose birthday it is today, said:

"Poetry is a separate language. It’s a language in which you never really come to the point. You’re always at an angle."

Martin Luther, who would today celebrate his 521st birthday if he were alive, at the end of his life apparently regretted how many books he had written. (For 30 years, from 1516 to 1546 he published an article on religion every other week = 60,000 pages. During the time he wrote, his published writings were thought to make up 20% of all literature published in Germany at the time.) He said:

"The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no limit to this fever for writing....I wish that all my books were consigned to perpetual oblivion."

Today we’d say:

The multitude of blogs is a great amazement. There is no limit to this fever for writing. Is it any wonder, then, that all my blogs are consigned to perpetual oblivion?"