Sailors -- Johnny Trotter and me on the USS Suffolk County (LST 1173) in 1966

This is poetry.

Oh sure, it's someone's legs, you might say. Yes, but they are my wife's and thus are poetic. She's my muse.

What can I say? You said you wanted pictures.

Here I am,  David Allen, journalist and poet, now living in central Indiana after a 36-year newspaper career, the last 19 in the Far East running the Guam and Okinawa news bureaus of Stars and Stripes. Finally, after all these years I am the master of my own domain.

The top photo is from the Spring of 1971, when the Vietnam Veterans Against the War held a week-long protest demonstration in Washington, D.C.,  and I was arrested with a bunch of other vets for staging a sit-in on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The bottom picture is me reading at the twice monthly Open Mike Nights at the Club Red, located on Okinawa City's infamous Gate Two Street in Okinawa, Japan. We used to meet there regularly, but the club moved and so did we. 

I am looking for a new venue.

 Watch this space.

   **********

And speaking of poetry --

 You could order a copy of my book,  "The Story So Far." The second printing doesn't fall apart.

Here's advance praise from Fulbright Poet David B. Axelrod:

"THE STORY SO FAR is a significant book. It is the poetry of a man who has spent a lifetime writing and it shows. David Allen doesn't just write well, he knows how to feel well! THE STORY SO FAR is a felt work. It is a fascinating account of a life `so far,' with plenty of wisdom in it for us all."

To get your own signed copy, send $10 to:

David Allen

803 Avalon Lane

Chesterfield, IN

46017

(That's a deep discount.

What the hell, they're paid for!)