Jim Harrison—writer, poet, storyteller—died last Saturday, March 26th, at the age of 78. He is remembered here by his friends and admirers. To read a selection of some of Harrison’s last poems, head here.
Barry Lopez: “Losing him just makes you still for a while.”
Jayne Anne Phillips: “He loved and sang and growled and celebrated.”
Gary Snyder: “Though Jim enjoyed his reputation as a bad boy, that was just playfulness.”
Charles Frazier: “Reading his work makes me feel like the world has expanded.”
Lucy Kogler: “I will always remember him as a poet.”
Terry McDonell: “‘Eat or die’ was his motto.”
Rick Bass: “With his death, the world got smaller.”
[Read Rick Bass on the first time he met Jim Harrison, from Narrative.]
Jimmy Buffett: “He could not cause tidal waves, but he came pretty damn close.”
Richard Flanagan: “He viewed the world and all things within it with weary wonder.”
Philip Caputo: “His friends call him ‘The General’ because of his uncanny ability to get you to do what he wants to do.”
Michael Wiegers: “He wrote us all into this world and made us a part of it.”
Colum McCann: “He always resisted the temptationto become part of the structure.”
Joseph Bednarik: “‘The close work’ was joyful work.”
James Bohnen: “He was always out there, always abundant, always an inspiration.”
Image courtesy Narrative Magazine.