This is our last selection from Orde Coombs, his book, We Speak as Liberators: Young Black Poets—An Anthology. We take a famous name, Quincy Troupe, his poem “The Wait” and his own bibliographic introduction written back in 1970:

“Born July 23, 1943, in New York City. Raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Attended Grambling College; went into the army for two years, then to Los Angeles and U.C.L.A. studying Journalism. Edited a magazine called Shrewd, an anthology called Watts Poets & Writers, which will be published in March by New Directions Publishing House. My poem Ode to John Coltrane will appear in the annual year end big issue of Downbeat magazine, I have also read my work on national television. I am married and teach Comparative Literature at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.”