A grook (Danish: gruk) is a form of short aphoristic poem or rhyming aphorism created by the Danish poet, designer, inventor, and scientist Piet Hein.
The grooks are multi-faceted and characterized by irony, paradox, brevity, precise use of language, rhythm and rhyme, and an often satiric nature.
'laugh & sigh'), but Piet Hein said he felt that the word had come out of thin air.
[citation needed] Piet Hein was president of the Anti-Nazi Union when the Germans invaded Denmark in 1940.
Beginning in the 1960s, seven volumes of English translations of 53 grooks each (all translated by Jens Arup) were published and became popular[citation needed] in the U.S. counterculture of the time: As of 2024[update], Piet Hein and/or his estate have also published the following books of grooks:[14]