Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Meet me at Mary’s Place…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Mar 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Meet me at Mary’s Place…
Meet me at Mary’s Place…

“…he said if you can enjoy
A real nice affair
(Over at Mary's place—oh)
Then you'll make it
Your business to be right there…
(Over at Mary's place— oh)” 
—Sam Cooke

All her friends were brilliant.
Brilliant bakers, bus drivers, 
plumbers, poets, professors, 
lawyers, filmmakers, activists, 
organizers, students, writers,
guitarists gathered ‘round the 
Campfire in her living room;
Where she’d wrestled Rumi
and sucked pomegranate
juice from every nano second

All her friends were brilliant.
Brilliant Native Americans, 
Armenians, Mexicans, Ethiopians,
Turks, Iranians, African-Americans,
Indians, Filipinos, Japanese and Jews
gathered ‘round the 
Campfire in her living room:
roasting marshmallows of ‘race;’
herding truth; grappling with and
wrestling racism to a mauling draw

All her brilliant friends showed up at 
Mary’s Place* minus psychic body armor;
sans anti-‘white’ supremacy shields and
swords—And begging the question(s):
“When did Irish and Italian become
‘white?” “When did Jews become ‘white;’
when might Mexicans become ‘white?’”

They gathered ‘round the 
Campfire in her living room
alerted by the clanging, jangling triangle— 
Her grub: fierce, uncured love! They washed it
down with cowboy coffee and shots of  brandied
Resistance; before filling their canteens from her 
spring of Solidarity…

They gathered ‘round the 
Campfire in her living room—
Devout do-it-yourself sorcerer who gave less than a
“flying fuck” ‘bout blind haters disguised as ‘experts’

They gathered ‘round the 
Campfire in her living room—
An organizer’s organizer—so systematized— 
so organized! Clipboards for writers without
hard surfaces; magic second and third calls
Transforming chip/dip/cheese food failures
Into internationalist horn of plenty feasts.
Her mystical signup sheets and lists made 
many hands, made setup, made breakdown, 
made cleanup magic ritual/spirit chatter/fun!

They gathered ‘round the 
Campfire in her living room—
telling torturous tales corporations and 
nonprofit junior partners, at imaginary 
Tables, pay premium lip service to…

*My beloved teacher, the late Mary H. Webb, legendary Berkeley City College Writing Instructor.

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at https://www.youtube.com/user/zigilow

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com 

poetry

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Pa
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                       
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who

More Stories


  • Elections in Haiti: Legitimizing Imperialism and Killing Democracy?
    Kevin Edmonds
    Elections in Haiti: Legitimizing Imperialism and Killing Democracy?
    30 Mar 2022
    As the white rulers of Haiti push for illegitimate elections, can the “Montana Accord”- an agreement among some civil society groups to return democracy to Haiti - offer a way out of the country’s…
  • Haiti: A Grassroots Analysis on the State of Affairs Since the Assassination of de facto President Jovenel Moïse
    Jelin Esau Jules
    Haiti: A Grassroots Analysis on the State of Affairs Since the Assassination of de facto President Jovenel Moïse
    30 Mar 2022
    March 29, 2022 - Haitian community activists are out in the streets to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Haitian constitution, drafted after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship, and to…
  • Tens of Thousands Threatened with Property Tax Foreclosures in Detroit
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Tens of Thousands Threatened with Property Tax Foreclosures in Detroit
    30 Mar 2022
    March 31 has been designated as the deadline for Wayne County residents to pay back property taxes from 2019 and before despite the failure to provide adequate assistance to working and impoverished…
  • Telesur
    Colombian Vice-Presidential Candidate Gets Death Threat
    30 Mar 2022
    Colombian Vice Presidential candidate Francia Marquez is again threatened by right wing groups in that country. She demands that president Ivan Duque protect her and others leaders as well.
  • Pentagon Drops Truth Bombs to Stave Off War With Russia
    Joe Lauria
    Pentagon Drops Truth Bombs to Stave Off War With Russia
    28 Mar 2022
    Leaked stories from the Pentagon have exposed how mainstream media reports Russia’s conduct in the Ukraine war, in a bid to counter propaganda intended to get NATO into the conflict.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us