John J. Trause | Red

Red                                  Color? Red Orange Green Yellow

San Antonio, as one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, was also experiencing a high rate of homelessness, crime, and degradation, 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. Late-stage capitalism was still wreaking havoc in American cities, and San Antonio was not immune. Outside the hotel along the River Walk where my sister, my three-year-old nephew, and I were staying, the bright red sun beat down oppressively, even early one Sunday morning as we strolled the short walk to St. Mary’s Church, a block or two away. As we approached the façade of the church, we saw, there, lounging on the steps, a homeless woman, one of scores of victims of rampant capitalism and social neglect. This poor woman, plump from poor diet, and with brightly but poorly dyed red hair (ketchup as hair dye, and not just a vegetable, as in the Reagan years) 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 headed to the entrance of the oblivious 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.