Wednesday, 27 August 1980:
9:40 A.M.
Having just lost his lover, about to lose his job,
Tom McGuire, 29, V.A. clerk
(“where about 2200 employees work”)
climbed from the 13th floor to the 14th
floor,
broke a window and waited 4 hours.
Tom McGuire, undone by desire: “…so that
…others…may not resort to the same
violent ordeal I am about to endure….
Using hard core drugs and practically
living in bath houses hoping to find
a lover through sex and drugs…
hoping that I might meet my dreamboy
through drugs…still…playing this routine
until this very day….”
in the note he leaves.
McGuire’s desire, gone through lust into dust;
his golden trust turned to rust with what
the poet Rossetti felt:
“Beauty without
the beloved is a sword through the heart.”
Stephanie, another clerk, waiting below:
“I guess some people…expect him to jump
…office workers bored with…
that Monday to Friday routine.”
He was heard to shout,
“Fuck it. Fuck everything!”
:Jumped.
The San Francisco Chronicle,
August 28, 1980:
August 28, 1980:
“Police held…surging crowd…tried…
closer
look…crumpled body…before…
rescue
crew draped…cover over…”
He passed 14 floors
with a neglected friend
reflected in the glass.
James McColley Eilers
