Minor Masterpieces And Delusion Poem by gershon hepner

Minor masterpieces, like delusions,
end far too quickly, but until
denouement ends them both, provide solutions
for those who find a major thrill
is possible although they know the end
is near, and never meets their ex-
pectations. Major masterpieces send
a message not as good as sex,
but better than delusions which provide
a lasting disappointment and a major
distraction while we’re trying to decide
how we should handle Pascal’s wager.

I have just bought a copy of the Norwegian novelist Per Petterson’s Out Stealing Horses, and notice that the reviewer of The Guardian says:

Out Stealing Horses is tinged with an autumnal sense of loss and the self-examination of an old man looking back on his life. This book is a minor masterpieces of death and delusion in a Nordic land.