Whirligig flocks are still plentiful along many Southern byways (and probably elsewhere), but Howell hollows out such categories and makes them his alone. One gargantuan whirligig, a static weather vane, a Calderesque mobile on a grandiosely Calderesque scale, seems to blow back against the elements. Only a hurricane (or those strong Virginia winds Howell describes) could activate the vane’s unyielding appendages.
