Hubert O’Hearn
// Author & Writer > *Web-Only*HUBERT O’HEARN is a Canadian-born author, host, interviewer, poet, and writer currently living in Northern Ireland. He is also the Owner of By The Book Reviews, Contributing Editor and Interviewer for The San Francisco Book Review, European Correspondent for American Blues Scene, Executive Editor of Help! I Need a Writer. His poetry book, with photographer Miranda Huckle, “Random Acts of Love” (2013) is available from Pandora Publications. Hubert O’Hearn has a Bachelor of Arts (English), and Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University, and was a student of Political Studies and a Masters of Education at Lakehead University and the University of Windsor respectively.
Websites: bythebookreviews.blogspot.co.nz, thefearandloathingpage.blogspot.co.nz, and hubertohearn.wix.com/help-i-need-a-writer
Photo: Miranda Huckle
Interview:
In a long and frequently lively life, I have loved and been loved many times. Sometimes we lack the words to express it and that is why I became a poet, to try and make those words myself. Similarly, what do we do with that person we love? We share songs, quotes, and meaningful images. I dare say with the rise of the Internet, more thoughts of love have been shared, through emails or Facebook messages, than at any time in our history. Oh, and thank you U2 for writing “The Sweetest Thing”. You made the greatest ‘apology song’ of all time.
We can change the world. We can change the world by observing it, because that’s all we artists do, you know. We observe. We look at the outside world, we look at our inside world, and we make something out of it. Just that – that can change the world. Quantum physics tells us that the act of observation actually changes the state of the thing being observed. Imagine that! So if we look at flowers, sunsets, or a face with love, it becomes loving itself.
As soon as anyone says to you, “Here’s my personal philosophy”, that’s usually a good reason to check your watch and claim you’re late for an appointment. Being bored to death is a terrible way to go. However, I’ll share mine with you because I truly believe it can make your life better.
The one thing I have learnt over the years is that people are never happier than when they’re creating. The late Christopher Hitchens, not long after he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, shared in an interview that the only thing he feared was losing the ability to write, because, “Writing is my recreation”. Aha! That has become my motto.
I love what I do. Creating “Random Acts of Love”, or a review, or writing an observational piece, are the purest acts of joy I have ever found. Creation is both an act of self-love and the truest statement of one’s self. So create! Maybe you’re not a poet, a painter, or an architect. But find the joy of creation in cooking a meal, tending your garden, or raising a family. Those creations will give you inner peace.
“Creation is both an act of self-love and the truest statement of one’s self.”
– Hubert O’Hearn, Author & Writer
