John J. Trause | Yellow

Yellow                                  Yellow Orange Red Green

San Antonio, as one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, was also experiencing a high rate of homelessness, crime, and depravity, belying the tranquility and ostentation of the tourist trade along the River Walk, a clear separation between the haves and have-nots in close proximity, the former ignoring the latter and the latter trying to gain the attention of the former. What might be lurking in the umber shadows under the bridges along the river or even below the surface of the ochre-stained water moving almost imperceptibly as if stagnant? Was that a whiff of urine wafting from that alley? Is that puddle residual river water or yellow piss staining the walkway? It was from this buzzing yellow miasma along the River Walk that my sister, my three-year-old nephew, and I strolled the short walk to St. Mary’s Church, a block or two away. As we approached the façade of the church, we thought we saw, there, sprawling on the steps, a seeming mass of tentacles and fetid sea flesh bellowing out at no one in particular, a red-haired Scylla of the sanctuary, ready to snatch us from our footing. On coming closer we saw that this bedraggled creature might be a seemingly destitute woman, fleshy, plump, and with brightly but poorly dyed red hair. She had been calling out and gesturing to us from a distance while combing her greasy, colored coif. Does she want money? Does she want help? Does she just want attention? What does she want? Getting closer, I realized that she, knowing that we were headed to the entrance of the church, was trying to get my attention and not that of my sister and 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.