ALT.SF4M

  Sam Moskowitz: Sad News

   • kevin d. conod
     18/04/1997 00:00:000 UTC

     I came home this evening, sat down to relax and read the paper (Newark's

     _Star Ledger_), only to run into an obituary for Sam Moskowitz. He died

     Tuesday (4/15/97) in University Hospital in Newark. Memorial service was

     held today and the funeral is tommorow (4/18/97).

     I didn't know Sam personally. I met him on several occasions at science

     fiction conventions, and the two of us drove out to I-CON (Stony Brook,
     NY)

     last year. Along the way he told me many stories of the 'golden age' of

     SF, early fandom, and of growing up in Newark (he was particularly fond
     of

     telling of the horse-drawn carriages, fresh fruit carts, and how many

     magazines you could buy for a quarter!). Driving home from work the
     other

     day, it struck me how the following verses remided me of Sam:

     "And yesterday pedaling down 4th Avenue,

     Between the stalls and the bookshops.

     The sepia tones of a lost afternoon

     Cradled a curio storefront.

     And inside the air was thick with the past,

     As the dust settled onto his heart.

     And here for a moment is every place in the world.

     And ideas are like stars.

     They fall from the sky.

     They run around your head.

     They litter your sleep as they beckon.

     They'd teach you to fly without wires or thread.

     They promise if only you'd let them.

     For the language of longing never had words,

     So how did you speak from your heart?

     Yet here is a box that swears it has heard

     That ideas are like stars."

     From "Ideas are Like Stars" by Mary Chapin Carpenter.

     -- Kevin

     k**....@e******y.net