There was a poor man who lived like a rich man. His father said he was so smart he should have been a billionaire but he outsmarted himself. He grew up in his parents business and when he went to college declared business as his major but changed it to sociology and was awarded the A A degree in Sociology. From Oakland's Merritt College he transferred to San Francisco State University and majored in English/Creative Writing.
He never thought that writing would keep him in poverty. He only knew he loved writing and nothing else. He knew his writing was not commercial and never intended it to be, and it never was. It was radical to the extreme and he intended it to be a vehicle to help free his people.
When the college Drama Department produced his first play, he was thankful until they told him to tone it down. He refused and dropped out of college to establish his own theater in the Fillmore District of San Francisco, Black Arts West Theater with Ed Bullins Duncan Barber Hillary Broadous Ethna Wyatt and Carl Bossiere.
BAW was not about money but freedom. It received no grants but became the critical theater in the black arts movement on the west coast and nation wide in the history of black arts and Liberation.
When Eldridge Cleaver was released from Soledad Prison, he came to the Bay Area and connected with the poor man. But the real reason he came to the Bay Area was to connect with his lawyer Beverly Axelrod who smuggled his manuscript Soul on Ice out of Soledad Prison and it became a best seller. More importantly, he had promised to marry Beverly and upon released moved into her house in San Francisco.
But when he connected with the poor man, he used his royalties from Soul on Ice to rent Victorian
house on Broderick St that became the Black House, a political cultural center of the Bay Area Black radical community.
Amiri Baraka and his pregnant wife Amina came to the house and described the poor man's room as Spartan in contrast with the high tech Speaker phone room of EC.
The poor man shared his Spartan quarters with his partner from Black Arts West Theater, Ethna Wyatt, aka, Ethna X, aka, Hurriyah Asar.
Amina Baraka recalls when whites tried to enter the Black House and a woman told Ethna she was white and Native American. Ethna replied,"The Native American can come in but the white got to go!"
Years later a white woman from Canada became the patron of the poor man. She told him she might be poor but not as poor as him.
A young lady told him he was the poorest famous person she'd ever met.
Yes, he was poor but rich in spirit.
His name was better than gold!
When he called upon people to assist his projects, they answered without charging anything for their services.
When he agreed to pay a VIP for his services, when the VIP arrived, he told the poor man he would not accept a penny for his services. He came to serve in the name of love. "Brother you can't give me a dime for doing this for you. I'm doing this for you for all the good you have done for our freedom struggle throughout the years, more than half a century!"
The poor man was humbled, overwhelmed.
Once he asked several VIPs to do a benefit for him. When they came at their own expense, people asked him how he brought them together? He said he used a device called the cell phone. A good name is better than gold!
A VIP woman said, "When he calls you to do something, it is like the Lord calling you. When he says jump, you say how high?
Men, especially rich men, were intimidated in his presence, even though he was the poorest man in the world. A rich man known for his self confidence told an audience the poor man was the most self confident man he'd ever met. Even though he was poor, many men felt insecure in his presence.
Though poor, many could only take his wisdom for an hour or less. And even after an hour, people departed with a headache. A woman friend could only take him for a short while, even when he wined and dined her, she would not return for a month or two. She said she needed time to absorb his wisdom.
One man said he was brutally honest. A young lady said he was blunt!
Several wanted him to be a stand up comic though he never tried to be funny.
He gave his knowledge freely, especially to those without money. Once a young man came to his stand at 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland and wanted a book but didn't have money so the poor righteous teacher gave him a book. The young man took a few steps then stopped and broke down into tears. The poor man asked him what was the problem? The young man said no one had ever given him anything in his life.
The poor man knew his mission was beyond money. Still people begged him to stop giving away his books and writings for free.
Sometimes his rich patron would seize his books when they came off the press so the poor man would not give them away.
His children told him to stop giving away his writings for free. One daughter said, "Dad, why would anyone pay for your writings when you post them daily on the internet?"
Still, the poor man wrote daily because he loved to write and not for money or fame. He didn't care about awards and rewards, even though a good friend told him to go for the reward, i.e. the money!
One elder told him to stay poor. It would keep him honest and truthful.
Still people begged him to monitize and he knew they were right since he knew too often we focus on the show and forget the show business.
The poor man simply could not focus on the business. He was absorbed with the show!
He knew it takes money to produce a show, to pay actors, dancers, musicians, tech crew, front house, but he would let the Spirit come to him for such mundane matters. And the Spirit blessed him time after time.
He knew time was money and money was time but time was more important to him than money. He treasured his time.
His time was worth millions to him. A free man owns his time, thus he can create at his pleasure. Some men have millions of dollars but somebody else owns their time. They are not free men, they are slaves.
The poor man treasured his time, time to think, write, produce. And he produced with no budget time after time. He loved that film Field of Dreams, e g., If you build they will come!
--cont
--MARVIN X
3/10/21
