A Writer's Moment: Those 'moments in time'

A Writer's Moment: Those 'moments in time':   “It's hard to write haiku. I mostly write long, silly Indian poems .” – Jack Kerouac   That having been said, Kerouac – born in Ma...

Those 'moments in time'

 

“It's hard to write haiku. I mostly write long, silly Indian poems.” – Jack Kerouac

 

That having been said, Kerouac – born in March of 1922 and best remembered for his autobiographical novel On The Road – wrote a lot of haiku, scattered in among his many other writings.  On the Road, of course, is considered THE defining work of the post-WWII Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use.  It was based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across America.   But, for Saturday’s Poems, here are 3 of Kerouac’s “most-liked” (his words) haikus. I like them too.  .

 

                                           Holding Up My

Holding up my
purring cat to the moon
I sighed.

Birds Singing

Birds singing
in the dark
—Rainy dawn.

 

                                           The Low Yellow

The low yellow
moon above the
Quiet lamplit house.

A Writer's Moment: 'Always connected'

A Writer's Moment: 'Always connected':   “In fantasy, you can make a complete break, and you can put people in a situation where they are confronted with things that they would no...

'Always connected'

 

“In fantasy, you can make a complete break, and you can put people in a situation where they are confronted with things that they would not confront in the real world.” – Elizabeth Moon

 

Born in McAllen, TX on March 7, 1945, Moon started writing Science Fiction and Fantasy as a teenager – something she first looked upon as a sideline before realizing she had a knack for creating new worlds that people wanted to read about.   After a career as a U.S. Marine Corps officer, she turned back to writing, first as a successful newspaper columnist and opinion writer then as a writer of science fiction. 

 

Her first novel, leading to “The Deed of Paksenarrion” series, was 1988’s Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, winner of the Compton Crook Award for best debut sci-fi novel.  She's now written 35 books, the most recent a collection of 6 stories titled Deeds of Wisom: Paksenarrion World Chronicles III, published in 2025.

  

Among Moon's many other awards are the Robert A. Heinlein Award for "outstanding published works in hard science fiction or technical writings that inspire the human exploration of space,” and a “Best Novel” Hugo for The Speed of Dark, a near-future story told from the viewpoint of an autistic computer programmer and inspired by her son Michael.

 

“My personal feeling about science fiction,” she said, “is that it's always in some way connected  . . . to our everyday world.“

A Writer's Moment: 'History is what we bring to it'

A Writer's Moment: 'History is what we bring to it':   “History is what we bring to it, not just the events themselves, but how we interpret those events.” – Robert Harris Born in March of 1...

'History is what we bring to it'

 

“History is what we bring to it, not just the events themselves, but how we interpret those events.” – Robert Harris

Born in March of 1957 in Nottingham, England (made famous by The Legend of Robin Hood), Harris’s writing career began as a print journalist and morphed into television reporting (for the BBC) before he switched to historical writing in the late 1980s.  

 

Harris’s first big hit was the bestseller Fatherland and he built a loyal following with books focused on World War II, including the wildly successful Enigma – both a bestseller and an award-winning movie.   Since then he has had successful forays into ancient Rome and contemporary history, including another massive award-winning bestseller and movie Conclave.

 

Now the author of 5 nonfiction books and 17 novels his next one, set in ancient Rome, is due out in August.  Called Agrippa, it is based on the Roman general and statesman Marcus Agrippa as he looks back on his lifelong friendship with Octavian – the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar.

   

“I write as well as I can,” Harris said.  “I'm a journalist at heart, so (to me) it's the story that matters.”   

A Writer's Moment: 'The capacity for writing success'

A Writer's Moment: 'The capacity for writing success':   “I think we have a great deal of mythology around writing. We believe that only a few people can really do it. I wrote a book called   The...