Crowd at a Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party meeting in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, July 1964, Herbert Randall Freedom Summer Photographs, USM
âPoetry is always dissident.â
âOctavio Paz
It was muted Miles when we
Woke Saturday mornings.
When we rose from slumber
to scents of sausage, potatoes,
bacon, eggs and coffee âŠ
It was muted Miles when we
Woke to fragrances wafting
from Sunbeam waffle iron.
Maybe manicures and pedicures, post-
breakfast? Maybe, on his way to
Work, the barber would pick us up for
close-cropped hair and nourishing adult
ear worms?
Maybe Iâd be pitching? Brother
Steve catchingâor gobbling
up ground balls at second base?
My Mother could organize all that!
Then rip apron off, gavel meetings
to order. Pull together picket lines;
Run California assembly and senate
campaignsâOr, settle long, long-
simmering disputes. She came equipped.
No cape. No âSâ on her chest. No
unusual way of getting around. She
was just Mom âŠ
Crazy Mom. Invited me to attend
a meeting with her. My response:
âI donât wanna go to your political meetingsâ
I just wanna play Little League Baseball!â
Her muted Miles reply⊠âBaby, everythingâs
Political⊠How do you think your park got
there? How do you think your coach got hired?
Everythingâs political, baby.â
© 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at GoFundMe and PayPal.
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