The Welcome Table

The Welcome Table

first thing to meet the eye and

greet the guests of the garden.

Set to say ‘Welcome,’

and as if to say,

‘This first we MUST agree upon:

to sit, to share, to talk.

For to not agree  

would turn this table over

becomes a shield

the table turned against:

hatred, intolerance,

waste, and greed.

The Welcome Table

a place of gathering of all people

to share food, poetry, music, laughter, ideas, lessons

a place apart and in connection to what goes on inside our school

to remind us of what we learn outside of the classroom

a sanctuary here on the campus of our busy public high school

a safe place for difference and sameness

The garden will remind us of the earth outside and in us –

The Welcome Table

James Baldwin’s story, for one, could be told here

since he went here- amidst the throng - across

the lengths of these halls, the same stairs, and library –

Jimmy must have been in Mr. Meeropol’s class

at least heard Abel banging on a piano

somewhere hammering away at librettos 

or the crystal moment that bore Strange Fruit

on some piano in the building somewhere

like summertime –

From the depths of Harlem he rode a breadth of New York City,   

to the Castle on the Parkway, Norwood of the Bronx

And The Welcome Table, open and large, was in his life, was his life,

his last play, last easing of tension into brotherhood and love.

This poem has been generating over the last few weeks, but its history in me runs much deeper.  One of the highlights of my over twenty years of teaching English at DeWitt Clinton High School was having the opportunity to teach a James Baldwin elective for several semesters from 2002 to 2004.  The experience culminated in my class discussingThe Fire Next Time while being filmed and subsequently televised onC-SPAN. I was also able to attend the 80 year celebration of Baldwin’s birth in conjunction with the publication of Sol’s Stein’s Native Sons: A Friendship That Created One of the Greatest Works of the Twentieth Century, an event held at the DeWitt Clinton High School library with esteemed guests including Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Sol Stein and biographer David Leeming (who happened to be my college professor at UCONN).  The reference to songwriter and lyricist Abel Meeropol, who wrote the song “Strange Fruit” that Billie Holiday made famous, stems from years of teaching the song in my Advanced Literary Criticism course at Clinton.  Three of these class sessions were featured in Joel Katz’ 2004 film, Strange Fruit.  I have long been captivated by the likelihood that James Baldwin and Abel Meeropol were acquainted at least to the extent that Abel Meeropol taught English at Clinton during the years that James Baldwin attended.  I like to think of myself as a collector of such convergences. 

I’m advocating The Welcome Table as a key design feature of the James Baldwin Memorial Outdoor LearningCenter, a site that I propose being constructed in proximity to The Clinton Garden and that will serve as a multi-purpose community/school gathering space dedicated to Baldwin’s memory and the idea that learning, especially about the environment, sustainability, gardening and food, needs to also take place outside of the classroom.  For more information, or to donate, please visit our IOBY page.