CJ Woods III’s Story Archive

The Poetry of April

April 11, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

On Friday, April 5th, my friend sent me a text: “My poem today is ‘The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.’ ” She wrote that another friend wanted her to read the poem to him so that he could share it with a “group of older men” who were gathering … Read More

Paper

April 4, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

“Welcome to the house of newspapers,” my daughter whispered to my newly-minted granddaughter as she settled her onto my futon for the first of what would be many days of care. The rustling of back issues of The Weekly View was the soundtrack of a dying art form: the production … Read More

Dear Mr. Davis

March 28, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

Dear Mr. Davis: You probably don’t remember, but I sat near you in the MedCheck; I had accompanied my daughter there so that she could have my granddaughter examined for an illness. Of all the people who swirled around us that day, I remember you because of the information about … Read More

A Musical Approach

March 21, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

“He was a furious, even romantic, typist, prone to crescendos, diminuendos, dense and barbed arpeggios …” The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon. My youngest granddaughter was sitting on my lap when a song by Michael Franti and Spearhead came on my iPod; as she listened to the … Read More

My Daughters Told Me That

March 14, 2019 | by CJ Woods III

When my youngest daughter comes from my bedroom after placing her daughter’s rock-and-play next to the dresser, she often pauses beneath a dark spot on my light ceiling. Lauren is a construction worker and has previously identified the spot as a “nail pop,” a construction term that means a nail … Read More