Paler wrote a number of poetry collections during his lifetime. The poems, which appear as ‘definitions’, are rather like Haiku in their intensity and succinctness: condensed descriptions of a feeling or a moment, they offer us an open door into the larger world of internal reflection.
Dosage: read one a day before meals or lingering over coffee
”The poems carry deep inside Paler’s unique tenderness and reflection – short descriptions of feelings, thoughts or moments of our life. In all these short poems, sometimes only into a verse…I found again the main and constant topics which enriched my mind…I found definitions of tears and cries, of departures, of love, of regret, or of obsession. I found definitions of illusion, of maturity, of dignity, of balance, of silence, of loneliness, of ego….” Mariana Ganea, Romanian-Insider
”The poetry reads as though an individual, the poet, is going through a process of examination, attempting to define his relation to the world and to himself, to define not just how he fits in, but if and why. Therefore making this a very introspective collection of poetry, but one that will have you smiling at that collection of words placed in that “best order” & then the awareness of a deeper thought process will seep into your mind – that this collection of beautiful, clever introspective poetry, is not merely one individual’s exploration of self, but that it relates to you, us, all of us.” Gary Moon, The Parrish Lantern
Provocative beauty 8 July 2013
By Callum MORRISON
‘Quite the most beautiful book! A series of procative passages describing an event or aspect of life, that I bought on impulse, and which have since absorbed me! The size of the book is not coffee or bedside table size, but rather jacket pocket size, and therefore the passages of provocative beauty the book comprises is of a discreet portability able to accompany me wherever I go’
Definitions by Octvian Paler: Istros Books, 2011.
Translated by Ileana Stefanescu and S. D. Curtis.
ISBN: 978-1-908236-00-5
