About A. D. Winans
Allan Davis Winans (born January 12, 1936 in San Francisco, California), known as A. D. Winans, is an American poet, essayist, short story writer and publisher. Born in San Francisco, California, he returned home from Panama in 1958, after serving three years in the military. In 1962, he graduated from San Francisco State College. He made his home away from home in North Beach, where he became friends with Beat poets like Bob Kaufman, Charles Bukowski, and Jack Micheline. In 1959, along with poets such as Allen Ginsberg, John Kelly, Bob Kaufman, and William Margolis, Winans co-founded the literary magazine Beatitude. He has written 68 collections of poetry and three books of prose; his poems, short stories, and literary reviews have been published in over 500 magazines. He was awarded the PEN National Josephine Miles Award for excellence in literature in 2006 and the San Francisco Arts and Letters Foundation Award for outstanding achievement and contributions to the Literary Arts.Browse all poems and texts published on A. D. Winans
I believe poetry and music can become as one. At their best, they offer us salvation and hope. A means of escaping the prison we are born into... I am of the opinion that poetry and music unite man with the spirit of a higher force, be it God, or a mysterious force we don’t understand and will never comprehend. I believe poetry and music are like man and woman in that they complement the other; spirit, creation and music are intertwined... To me, poetry and music is the path leading toward self-enlightenment and a reunification of the flesh and spirit.
