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

Saturday Mornings
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
29 Mar 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Saturday Mornings
Caffie Greene

                                                                                                                    Saturday Mornings                                                                                                  

                                                                                                             “Poetry is always dissident.”

                                                                                                                      —Octavio Paz

 

There was muted Miles when we

Woke Saturday mornings—

when we rose from slumber

to scents of sausage, potatoes,

bacon, eggs, coffee.

There was muted Miles when we

Woke to waffle scents wafting

from the Sunbeam waffle iron.

Maybe manicures and pedicures

post-breakfast? Maybe the barber

would pick us up on his way to

work for close-cropped hair and

nourishing adult ear worms?

Maybe I’d be pitching? Brother

Steve catching—or vacuuming

shots up from second base?

My Mother could organize

All that— rip off apron and gavel

meetings to order; pull picket lines

together; run California campaigns

for assembly and senatorial seats—

Or, settle long-simmering disputes…

No cape. No “S” on her chest. No

unusual way of getting around. She

was just Mom.

Crazy Mom inviting me to attend

some meeting with her. My reply:

“I don’t wanna go to your political meetings

I just wanna play Little League Baseball!”

Her muted Miles response, “Everything is

Political…

How do you think your park got there?

How do you think your coach got hired?”

© 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.

Los Angeles
Black Liberation Movement

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


Related Stories

Michael Smith
Malcolm X’s Daughters Sue NYPD, FBI About Their Role in His Assassination
14 January 2026
A top-notch legal team is delving into how the FBI and their local police partners collaborated in both the assassination of Malcolm X and Chic
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
LETTER: To My People, Assata Shakur, 1973
01 October 2025
“There is and always will be, until every Black man, woman, and child is free, a Black Liberation Army.”
Black Alliance For Peace
In Honor and Memory of Assata Shakur
01 October 2025
They called Assata Shakur a fugitive; we claim her as a compass.
Adam Mahoney
From Watts to D.C.: How 500 Black Neighborhoods Vanished in 45 Years
02 July 2025
America’s gentrified neighborhoods have lost 500,000 Black people, while gaining residents of every other race, a study finds.
Lexis-Olivier Ray
Black People Make Up 75% Of All Weed Arrests At LAX, Data Shows
16 April 2025
Roughly a third of the people who were arrested by LAPD in the city of Los Angeles for cannabis-related offenses since 2020 were arrested in We
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The fire this time … (as Amiri tolt me)
29 January 2025
“Scratch a lie—find a thief !”
Sekou Odinga
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Sekou Odinga Has Joined the Ancestors But the Spirit of the Black Liberation Army And African Resistance Lives On!
17 January 2024
A commemoration of the life of comrade Sekou Odinga, a lifelong New African revolutionary, former political prisoner, and unstoppable force in
Ralph Poynter delivered a solidarity message from Lynne Stewart
Lallan Schoenstein
Ralph Poynter Used His Strong Voice and Stout Heart to Fight for Justice
10 January 2024
Ralph Poynter was a pioneer in the fight against white supremacy, oppression, and injustice around the world.
The State's Constant Attack on Black Liberation
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The State's Constant Attack on Black Liberation
12 July 2023
Indictments, disruptions, arrests, defamation, incarceration and even assassination are the weapons used to discredit Black people who act
Mourning Mutulu Shakur and the Black Radical Tradition that Modernized America
Jon Jeter
Mourning Mutulu Shakur and the Black Radical Tradition that Modernized America
12 July 2023
The late Mutulu Shakur and other Black radicals were responsible for improving the lives of millions of people in the U.S.

More Stories


  • Save the University City Town Homes
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Save the University City Town Homes
    29 Jul 2022
    Rasheda Alexander is a tenant organizer at the University City Town Homes in Philadelphia. She joins us to discuss their struggle to stop a mass eviction amidst the proposed sale of their affordable…
  • Glen Ford's Irreplaceable Journalism
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Glen Ford's Irreplaceable Journalism
    27 Jul 2022
    I was very proud to write the preface to Glen Ford's book, The Black Agenda, which was published posthumously by OR Books. As we approach the first anniversary of Glen's passing, I endeavored to…
  • Glen Ford's Ukrainian Crystal Ball
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Glen Ford's Ukrainian Crystal Ball
    27 Jul 2022
    Glen Ford was among the speakers at a May 16, 2014 teach-in on Ukraine sponsored by the International Action Center. The event was held at The Riverside Church in New York City in the wake of the…
  • The Lies of Empire: Don’t Believe a Word They Say
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    The Lies of Empire: Don’t Believe a Word They Say
    27 Jul 2022
    The U.S. reprises Iraq, inventing a WMD threat from Syria. The FBI concocts home-grown terror through stings, while the NSA claims it has secretly saved many lives. “Why this steady stream of…
  • Glen Ford: Clarence Thomas, the “Anti-Black,” 2007
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    Glen Ford: Clarence Thomas, the “Anti-Black,” 2007
    27 Jul 2022
    An essay by the late Glen Ford recounts the perverse origin story of the twisted life and lies of Clarence Thomas.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us