“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"

Jack Kerouac from his autobiographical novel "On The Road"

Why I like it: I imagine my high school grammar teacher, Ms. Weiner, trying to diagram this sentence. We all seek characters to drive our stories. Here, Kerouac lists requirements for the characters that attract him — in an explosion of words that burn, burn, burn with poetry that climax with the vivid burst of a double simile.

Nieman News

One Great Moment

March 13, 2019

Jack Kerouac from his autobiographical novel "On The Road"