Walter Hinton is a poet residing in Astoria, LIC, New York. He has been writing poetry since childhood. He says, "My poetry is, as am I, unknown. It tends to be inspired by events that trouble me. Few have been published as they tend toward the discomforting. My best, I think, was 'Tis of thee (published by small press: one, a university; the other, a writer's association), which I wrote in response to the Kent State tragedy in 1970--an event that shaped me in ways I'm still discovering. Kent State, I think, was a wake-up call to our democracy that had been in the unmaking long before Richard Nixon occupied the White House. Americans stayed in their easy chairs watching televisions (the technology relatively new then that I believe was the second most powerful 'opiate of the people.' Computers will finish the job), instead of getting out in the streets and protesting the abuse of power that would lead to something so insidious as the killing of American college students who were protesting the Vietnam war."

He goes on to say, "Anyway, when Trayvon Martin was shot, I felt America was again washing its bloody hands (it does so over and over again) of the matter, and settling down into its easy chair..."

He hasn't been published in about 25 years.

You can contact Mr. Hinton via e-mail at Slowfrog@netzero.com or by sending an e-mail to TimBookTu and it will be forwarded.