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Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Viewing August Wilson

Posted by on October 4 at 13:23 PM

I just got back from seeing August Wilson’s newly dead body and paying my respects. The great playwright is on view today at the Bonney-Watson funeral home on Broadway. I was underdressed and felt a little awkward while his friends and family chatted, chuckled, and sniffled. There were a few photographs and paintings of Mr. Wilson and a small stereo played the blues song “Samson & Delilah,” which contains the lyrics: “If I had my way/If I had my way in this wicked world/If I had my way/I would tear this old building down.”

His coffin sat at the far end of the room. He wore a suit. His face and hands looked just like another old man I watched die of liver cancer last year. That man was white and Mr. Wilson was black, but in death they look like brothers.

Seattle will not keep Mr. Wilson. His body will be mailed back to Pittsburgh, where it was born.