“A nice gathering like today is not enough. You have to go back, and reach out to your neighbors who don’t speak to you. And you have to reach out to your friends who think they are making it good, and get them to understand, that they, as well as you and I, can not be free in America or anywhere else where there is capitalism and imperialism.”

somebody almost walked off wit alla my stuff

Your children are not your children
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself
They come through you but they are not from you
And though they are with you, they belong not to you
You may give them your love but not your thoughts
They have their own thoughts
They have their own thoughts
You may house their bodies but not their souls
For their souls dwell in the place of tomorrow
Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams
You can strive to be like them
But you cannot make them just like you
Strive to be like them
But you cannot make them just like you
— Read on thebirdsings.com/OLD/songs/on-children.html

black girl
i’m here
okay?
still here. 
i’m sorry
i could not 
be what
was need

but no
excuses
no more
ppl want
u to be
need u 
to be
more 
and 
strong 

and 
lover man
ain’t 
comin back

Historian Gerald Horne has developed a grand theory of U.S. history as a series of devastating backlashes to progress—right down to the present day.
— Read on www.bostonreview.net/articles/the-long-american-counter-revolution/

girl
u think i wanted all that
response-ability? 

or was i mummied into
it mammy-jacked?
what if all potential 
black fire could be 
made to tend the
dying embers
of da west? 

or do we bend back
to africa! garvey had
the direction, now we 
need perpetual 
insurrection 

when they’re at the club 
i hope it’s luv
and not just club love 
but real warm and cozy
when they’re at bar
she’s her star
or so they say
when they’re at the club
i hope it’s love in her eyes 
and his cup never spills 
and they dance like
forever but
not actually forever
just long enuf 
for the illusion to hold
and me to forget 
why i started writing 
in the first place? 

for alicia. in memory of bernadette mayer.

we went to the bar with no men. it was dirty cuz the late-night shift was lazy
and anyway i was on the late-night shift
but we were at the bar with no men
and since i worked a double shift the night before, i helped myself to a bottle of gin

we were talking about the war, hopefully the last one but we were never sure
but anyway we were talking about the last one. and how dirty it got? how it was all in people’s minds too and they couldn’t even think of a bar with no men, cuz it was so simple but actually pretty hard to pull off.

sandy adjusted a lamp near me and patted me on the head

“you’ve been very diligent slacking off, have a raise.” 

i told her she was sweet and we began the political education unit on transgressions 

which yes involved many things and there was much to discuss. who wronged who that week, yes this was very much a work in progress. so yes we went to work unpacking the various things that needed unpacking, the support networks we needed to deploy to which families at which date, who needed to go out on work assignment, think about what they had done and present a poem on the subject, whereupon their case would be swiftly administered with no errors or bias
and the question of whether re-entry was feasible/ desirable / requested or denied by the affected parties 

after a long rap sesh and note-taking, we went upstairs, made ravenous love and promptly conked out. 

Berndette Mayer’s seventh book was published by Anne Waldman and Lewis Warsh’s Angel Hair Books (Lenox, Massachusetts and New York, New York) in 1977. 8.5 x 11 inches. Side stapled. 400 copies. This copy unbound and with anonymous previous owner’s addition of page numbering and marginalia in red felt-tip ink.
— Read on eclipsearchive.org/projects/ERUDITIO/eruditio.html

Mayer’s fifth book, Memory was published by North Atlantic Books (Plainfield, Vermont) in 1976. Set in Aldine Roman and printed by Typographics (Plainfield, VT) on an IBM Composer. Edition unknown.

— Read on eclipsearchive.org/projects/MEMORY/memory.html