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
  • omnibus

Meet me at Mary’s Place…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Mar 2021
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 [email protected] 

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: 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 r
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
                                                                                              Another June 1  
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
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
15 July 2021
Could the pigment of your imagination cause Black magic mascots, props, sops— Black faces in high places—
A known known…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A known known…
08 July 2021
“…there are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known

More Stories


  • Jon Jeter
    The Dog Whistle Heard ‘Round the World: How Timothy McVeigh’s Oklahoma City Bombing Birthed the Trump Era
    16 Apr 2025
    Thirty years after Timothy McVeigh’s Oklahoma City bombing, his legacy lives on in the racist mass shooters, anti-government extremists, and MAGA reactionaries who continue to target Black…
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Claudia O'Brien Moscoso , Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    A Snapshot of the Global War Against African People: Reflections From Ecuador
    16 Apr 2025
    Defying Ecuador’s attempt to bar international monitors, election observers documented how Daniel Noboa’s contested victory, secured amid militarized polling stations and state violence, escalates…
  • Too Black , Rasul Mowatt
    Bootleg Rehab: Still Laundering Black Rage
    16 Apr 2025
    DEI isn’t dead—it was never alive to begin with. A corporate pacification project dressed as progress, it launders Black rage into diversity statements while police budgets grow and material…
  • NBROC Coordinating Committee
    Grounding Our Purpose: The Second National Black Radical Organizing Conference
    16 Apr 2025
    The Second National Black Radical Organizing Conference (NBROC) continues the legacy of Black radical resistance, uniting organizers to confront imperialism, capitalism, and white supremacy while…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    Black Alliance for Peace and MANE Reflect on Ecuadorian Elections
    16 Apr 2025
    Despite Ecuador's attempts to block international observers, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and Movimiento Afrodescendiente Nacional Ecuatoriano (MANE) documented the violent realities of Daniel…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us