Questions & Curiosity: Why This Aphorism?

Aphorisms are short sayings usually with some moral or meaning… kind of like a mini-fable! 🙂 But, a lot of times, they can end up being used as clichés, standing in for thinking about the concept more deeply.

A cliché is so…cliché, but anything can be interesting if you take a closer look at it. Sayings turn into sayings for *some* reason, after all. Take an aphorism from this aphorism list and ask “why”? or “how could this be played out”? in a specific scene or setting. Then write a poem or a tiny story that illustrates the idea in the aphorism, takes it literally, or interprets it in a different sense.

So, for example, with “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” you could write a poem about the value of something had versus a greater thing which you don’t actually have. Or, you could write a poem about a person who has a literal bird in their hand and has to decide whether to let it go in order to maybe get two that are in a nearby bush. Or you could write a poem about birds, one of which is a rare species, the other of which is common, or write a poem about how to get a bird (metaphorical or literal) into your hand in the first place.

Featured Poem

Thanks to everyone who participated in our recent poetry prompt. Here’s a poem we enjoyed from L.L. Barkat…

Dandelion

I call you gift
from the divine

mine, seeded
everywhere,

everywhere offering
early nectar

for spring’s first
bees,

the honey
promised

already

in your wheels
of brilliant

yellow

which I welcome
as gold,

pure
gold.

—L.L. Barkat

Photo by Tracy, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Sara Barkat.

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Sara Barkat

I like my tea black (with a special love for Indian chai) and my novels long (give me sci-fi, fantasy, or 19th century to make me especially happy!)—though I’m always exploring beyond my known universe and will drink greens, reds, and oolongs, and read almost any genre or style that crosses my table. Speaking of the universe, I have a passion for learning about anything from black holes to the mysteries of time. When I’m not sitting by the window, sharing the sun with our little lemon tree, I can be found making lemon cupcakes and other confections, creating art (pen and ink, intaglio, and Prismacolors, please) or moving through the world on the toes of ballet or jazz dance.

Latest posts by Sara Barkat (see all)

• Literary Analysis: The Yellow Wall-Paper Affects Us All - February 27, 2020
• Un-writing the Fairytale, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast 2017:The Feminist Implications of Failed Deconstruction and the Lack of Fairytale Logic - September 4, 2019
• Questions & Curiosity: Why This Aphorism? - May 20, 2019