Article Archives: Words with Woods

A Thing Happened

May 7, 2020 | by CJ Woods III

“We had,” the man said, then paused. He put his hands on his hips and lowered his head. After a moment, he raised his head and continued: “We had a thing happen.” He was standing in the doorway to the home I lease, a place he had entered and left … Read More

Spring

April 30, 2020 | by CJ Woods III

It was a sunny Sunday, and I sat on my front porch reading “The Corrections” by Jonathan Franzen. An abundance of nature music made me lift my head, often. Birds called out, the audio track to a burgeoning spring, and across the street, a young tree, branches dusted with magenta … Read More

The New Normal

April 23, 2020 | by CJ Woods III

A few years ago, I was standing in the customer service line at a Kroger grocery store. There were people in front of me and some behind me as I waited to fling my money into the bonfire of chance called “The Hoosier Lottery.” (My investment advisor would tell me … Read More

The Trees of Irvington

April 16, 2020 | by CJ Woods III

On the South Circle of Irvington, a great tree grows; it is on the east side of the circle, across from the park. The bust of Washington Irving poses mutely in the face of the massive growth, in contrast to my awe and wonder at the slow, inevitable destruction wrought … Read More

Speaking Truth To Power

April 9, 2020 | by CJ Woods III

A man was speaking to a room full of his subordinates, extolling the benefits to be derived from his company’s customers’ purchases of some of the products offered by the department store he represented. I was one of the subordinates in that room, the representative of a crew of artists … Read More