John J. Trause | Green

Green                                  Green Yellow Orange Red

It was in ordinary time on an ordinary Sunday in San Antonio, a city more green and lush and beautiful than Venice, without the threat of flood in over 85 years, when fresh from our hotel on the River Walk lined with overhanging trees and decorative verdant vines, that my sister, my three-year-old nephew, and I strolled the short walk to St. Mary’s Church, a block or two away. I marveled, all weekend, how the San Antonio River seemed so clear and clean, not murky and flood-prone as the lagoons of Venice are known to be, and how even the air on this bright, aqua-blue Sunday testified to a mix of urban bustle and natural voluptuousness in ecologically sound measure. Trees flourished green and glorious along the streets as well. La Serenissima should have been green with envy. As we approached the façade of the church, there lounging on the steps, a seemingly homeless woman, fleshy, plump, and with brightly, but poorly dyed red hair, Clairol Ketchup Splash or L’Oréal Salsa Picante, was calling out and gesturing to us from a distance while combing her greasy, colored coif.  Getting closer, I realized that she, knowing that we were heading to the entrance of the church, was trying to get my attention and not that of my sister or nephew: “Mister, mister, your fly is open.”

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John J. Trause, Director of Oradell Public Library, is the author of six books of poetry, including Why Sing? (Sensitive Skin Press, 2017) and Seriously Serial (Poets Wear Prada, 2007; rev. ed. 2014),  and one of parody, Latter-Day Litany (Éditions élastiques, 1996), the latter staged Off Broadway. His translations, poetry, prose, and artwork appear internationally in many journals and anthologies. Marymark Press has published Trause’s visual poetry and art as broadsides. He is a founder of the William Carlos Williams Poetry Cooperative in Rutherford, New Jersey, and the former host and curator of its monthly reading series.