TOUCHING THE VOID

December 2020

I held two bricks in my hands—once clay, risen to the top of the Shomali Plains from the deep igneous rock of this region, eons ago, mixed with sand, and formed in one of the dozens upon dozens of brick factories that plumed great black smoke cauldrons. Those rising stacks that we would fly around—like a giant slalom race in the skies in our helicopters—were erected, pointing upward amongst the people of the greater city of Kabul, a millennia after this clay was birthed to the surface. Molded and shaped for utility in time and the two bricks did not seem heavy, but I knew they would grow in weight the farther I ran that morning.

MEET PETER QUINN

Peter Quinn is a former army helicopter pilot and intelligence officer with over five combat tours in Afghanistan, some of which was spent living with the Afghans, working for the DEA, NATO and U.S. Special Operations. His previous publications include “Touching the Void,” in the 20th Anniversary Edition of BlazeVOX (December 2020). He is currently polishing a collection of true stories for publication based on his time living and working and fighting alongside the great Ghilzai warriors in his last tour of many to Afghanistan, where his heart remains. These stories have been cleared for publication by the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review.

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH MY HEART

There was a road and along that road there was a river and along that river there were tributaries, streams, and creeks that fed into the river. But that river was running right through my heart. You are the river that runs through my heart.

Peter Quinn