The Artful Trade

Getting Clean copyright@2020 will maguire I go to church. I generally sit in the last pew, trying to turn my grievances into gratitude. I fail regularly. Last week this guy walked in wearing mechanic’s overalls covered with oil stains. His hands were blackened with grease. There is this large bowl at the entranceway full of water. Holy water. I think it must have been his first time because he hesitated as he passed it. He took a few steps, then turned back. He dipped both arms in up to the elbow and began scrubbing at the dirt and grease, like he figured washing his hands was a kind of prayer. Then cleansed, he rolled his sleeves down, found the girl he was going to meet and sat down. And I got that old feeling in the back of me that I was watching something larger than it appeared to be. In the early 80s I lived in New York City. That year a new and deadly virus, HIV, first made its way into Manhattan’s clubs and alleyways. Then in short order it climbed off the avenue...

Letter Home copyright@2020 will maguire The tornado, an ef3...160mph, tore thru my part of town then stayed on the ground for about 50 miles, heading east. I woke at 1am to the sound of tornado sirens and hail pinging off the roof. The wind was starting to yell...threats...like it sometimes does in spring, but I checked and saw no trees down. At about that time the funnel touched down and began crawling thru my neighborhood. Whole blocks of houses and businesses were leveled. Power is out over a wide area. My street however was spared. As it moved east it mowed down several towns...towns that really no longer exist. Erased in large part. In Oklahoma they sometimes call twisters the finger of God, as though he we're writing His name again and again in the dirt. I doubt that. Not His signature. Seems like a forgery to me. 25 dead so far, including some very young. Toddlers. The wind doesn't really check IDs when it starts spinning up on itself. Left a lot of nevers...