Writers Harbor

Author: Francis Meyrick

  • Of helicopters and Humans (10B) “Shillelaghs, hair-Trigger tempers, and three…Greens? “

    Of Helicopters and Humans (10B) Shillelaghs, hair-trigger tempers, and three… Greens? (Part 2) We landed back that evening, after our “Three Greens – or not” incident, and I remember just being relieved. We were walking in from the ramp, under the heavy, dark, grey evening skies, with daylight rapidly disappearing. The way it does, at…

  • Of Helicopters and Humans (10) “Shillelaghs, hair-trigger tempers, and three… Greens? “

    With thanks to Jeff and his Great Grandpa. I hope I NEVER tick you guys off… Of Helicopters and Humans (10) Shillelaghs, hair-trigger tempers, and three… Greens? (Part 1) We little humans are all the product, or victims, to some degree, of factors not entirely under our control. We don’t get to choose our upbringing,…

  • Cops and Robbers (9) “High Noon at the Butler Corral “

    Cops and Robbers (Part 9) High Noon at the Butler Corral Often, I read about members of the public complaining bitterly about Police brutality. It’s an emotional, inflammatory subject. Sure, it happens. Cops are human too. They are not perfect. Hello? Is anybody? But I wish the complaining public could see sometimes the other side…

  • The Burning Soldier (6) “Bam-Bam “

    The Burning Soldier Part 6: Bam-Bam Some stories… …are so hard to write, not because you don’t know how to write it. On the contrary, you know exactly how to write it. Especially when it’s been bubbling around in your head for nearly four decades. No, it’s more a case that they are threatening to…

  • Liar’s Poker

    Liar’s Poker I went for a walk this morning. Through the fields, across the still dew on wild grasses, I stepped out lustily, my heart singing an old Irish ballad. Carefully, I stepped around the dandelions and the daisies, the forget-me-nots and the rag weeds. I clambered over a few old fences, and around the…

  • The Blade of Damocles

    The Blade of Damocles Underneath a blade Paused, unnaturally, from beating air into a mostly illusory submission, I gaze in rapture At a thin gaseous layer With which our home Fragile and small Is blessed by Forces slightly understood And by a Great Cosmic Kindness Whom we, noisy and unseeing Barely acknowledge. I watch as…

  • A Blip on the Radar (Part 33) Fly Quietly, for our Friends lie there

    A Blip on the Radar Part 33: Fly quietly, for our Friends lie there Truth, many say, is stranger than fiction. For sure. I wholly concur. As an obsessive scribbler, I seldom worry about inventing a plot. I just try and describe what I see and feel. But I would add this: Looking back on…

  • Agnes, the Old A.I.

    Agnes, the old A.I. Wikipedia: Transhumanism There came a series of loud crashes, and his parents looked at each other, nervously. The sounds came from the direction of their only child’s private habitat. “I do hope”, his mother whispered, “that they are getting along together”. His father shuffled uneasily, and replied: “I hope so! That…

  • A Blip on the Radar (Part 32) “An Unusual Passenger “

    A Blip on the Radar Part 32: An Unusual Passenger I am indebted for a description of what happened on this particular night, to a friend of mine, a long time Hansen Pilot. It is through his patient description, the next day (when I had sobered up a bit) that most of my memory exists.…

  • A Blip on the Radar (Part 31) ” A Strange Premonition “

    Photo: K.Mark Demon A Blip on the Radar Part 31: A Strange Premonition Let’s be honest: we tend to refrain from writing about fellow pilots who… die. It makes us uncomfortable. There is also the fear that we may come across as judgmental, or unkind, insensitive, arrogantly superior, gushingly sentimental or downright maudlin. It’s easier…