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LOOKING BACKby A.D. Winanswhen I was 18I was on a troop train heading for basic training when we stopped to take on water or whatever it is trains stop for and after relieving myself I came out of the men's room when an elderly black man asked me where the men's room was and when I pointed in the direction of where I had just come from he said, "No, Sir. "The Colored room." And being from the North and it being 1954 I had no idea what he was talking about when a red faced young woman came running from behind a concession stand and shouted at the old man leaning on his cane... "You leave that man alone." and I said it was alright he just wanted to find the restroom and she said, "that BOY knows where the colored room is." the look in his eyes still tattooed in my mind Many years later I saw Blacks hosed down and attacked with dogs in Alabama and later still saw two black children escorted to school by the National Guard and now decades later two black girls will be protected by the Secret Service their father in the White House who would have believed it a rainbow coalition a half-white half-black man holding the highest position in the land. About A.D. WinansA. D. Winans is a native San Francisco poet, writer and photographer. He was friends with Jack Micheline, Bob Kaufman, Charles Bukowski and other poets and writers of the 50's and 60's. The author of 45 books and chapbooks of prose and poetry, his work has appeared internationally and been translated into nine languages.A poem of his was set to music and performed at Tully Hall, NYC. His book, The Other Side Of Broadway: Selected Poems: 1965-2005, was published in January 2007 by Presa Press. He was a winner of a 2006 PEN National Josephine Miles award for literary excellence.
He is available for readings and can be contacted at
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