Poems

A 12-hour long sentence constructed from proverbs from around the world, The Endless Proverb Model of the Universe will be projected as a crawling news ticker video around St. Matthew's Church's magnificent great hall on 5–6 October 2013 as part of Ten Models of the Universe by the Department of Science & Advanced Proverbs, an Independent Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto Project.

For more info plus details about other models, please see Ten Models of the Universe.

An excerpt of text-in-progress from hour two of The Endless Proverb Model of the Universe:

… a promise is a promise,
as a rose is a rose is a rose, though when
roses fall, but the thorn remains, so
that which we acquire with the most difficulty we retain the longest, but
for a lost thing care nothing, and
the unlooked for often comes, so
those who long for something grow old in a day, and
only remembrance of a well spent life is sweet, but
remorse is the echo of a lost virtue, and
the owner has one house, the renter a thousand, so
let the one who receives the profit repair the inn, though
the report makes the wolf bigger than it is, as
reputation is often without merit, and lost without fault, and
one who digs a pit, often falls into it, for
revolution never goes backwards, but
ridicule is the test of truth, and
one who rides on a giant's shoulders sees farther than the one who carries him, however
whatever way you take, there is a stretch of bad road, and even though
all roads lead to Rome, you may row your heart out, if the wind and tide set against you, so
a boat that will not answer to the rudder must answer to the rock, and though
there is no rule without an exception,
the exception proves the rule, but
one that would rule, must hear and be deaf, see and be blind, though
the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world, and
it is a poor rule that won't work both ways, though
the only rule that works both ways is the golden rule, so
do as you would be done by, but,
if you don't have anything to do, don't do it here, and
before gold, even kings take off their hats,
use their heads for something besides a hat rack, and
don't talk through their hats, but
never forget where they buried the hatchet, as
we hate where we hurt, and
we always hurt the ones we love, and
love the ones we hurt, so
hunger sweetens what is bitter, and
though I am bitten, I am not eaten, and
better a friendly bite than an enemy's caress, so
take two bites, if one is too large, but
don't bite off more than you can chew, for
charity begins in the home, and
though charity and pride have different aims, they can both feed the poor, for
different strokes for different folks, so
different time, different manners, and
different folks take different views, but
when people come face to face, their differences vanish…

Text as of 3 July 2013