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
Avotcja’s Love…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
22 Mar 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Avotcja’s Love…

                                                                     

                                                                                            Avotcja’s Love…

                                                                      “…Your love…means everything to me…”  

                                                                     —Charles Wright, Watts 103rd Street Band

 

Used to fret, whine, twist worry beads

outta shape. Used to pout like a 6th grader

starting pre-school. Used to burden my

Wife-to-be with questions concealing

statements. And statements concealing

Questions: “I don’t think Avotcja likes me…”

Used to be bothered by unceremoniously

curt, gruff, brusque, businesslike behavior.

“The seasoned Sister’s in a New York state

of mind—she’ll be over it in a New York

Minute…” Asserted my NYC Wife-to-be…

Fast forwarding a few million minutes—I

Love the way Avotcja starts spreadin’ the

Blues-infused news…Slipping, sliding—

smoothly—Spanish to Spanglish to English

and back again—Bouncing it off walls and

elephant ears of satellite dishes

picking up maternal music frequency words…

Love her electric-throned—Super Shero—

defiant/reliant; No quit grit! Out organizing, out

Working, out fighting—Out

Loving our temporarily-abled…tired asses…

Once heard her weaponized words put a pimp

across her knee—spank his ass…Make him ask,

“Mother, may I…get outta the game…get a gig

Driving Ms Daisy? Ms Mary? Ms Matty? Any

Senior sisters needin’ to shop—get to the bank—

See the doctor?!”

Fast forwarding a few million minutes—I

Love hearing “Papi Was a Dancing Man”

of crackling, triumphant, Presto-log love—

Warmth for entering from frost… Warm shower,

Wool blanket, hot apple cider, home-cooked meal

Love

Love making arrows make u-turns

midair

Love making embarrassed bullets drop

to streets in supplication and apology…

And, yes, I’m grateful she calls me her

“Brother from another Mother—” And

has Papi-love left… for sharing with me…

© 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.

Music

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
LYRICS: Bicentennial Blues, Gil Scott-Heron, 1976
01 July 2026
“George Washington/Slave-owner general/Ironic that the father of this country/
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
SONNY
27 May 2026
Our wise Monk-guru, White winter mane and Douglass beard,Sonny's anOak tree growing outSugar Hill concrete—
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: In Our Hands: Thoughts on Black Music, Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1976
31 July 2024
For the late Dr.
For Larry Roland
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
For Larry Roland
08 March 2023
                                         
A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…
27 April 2022
Donald Smith always performe
Photo: Kevin W. Thorbourne
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
08 September 2021
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)  

More Stories

  • The Biden Era, Ukraine, and the Crisis of the Left w/Dr. Anthony Monteiro
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    The Biden Era, Ukraine, and the Crisis of the Left w/Dr. Anthony Monteiro
    28 Feb 2022
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley speak with Dr. Anthony Monteiro, organizer of the Saturday Free School and a long time BAR contributor.
  • New York Bail Reform Fight
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    New York Bail Reform Fight
    23 Feb 2022
    Black legislators in New York are defending their legislation which reduces the use of cash bail.
  • GLEN FORD: U.S. Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission, March 20, 2014
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    GLEN FORD: U.S. Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission, March 20, 2014
    23 Feb 2022
    Glen Ford’s prescient 2014 essay on the geopolitics of the Ukraine exposes the core issues animating the conflict: US energy interests and economic power.
  • The American Left’s China Exception: The Case of Dave Zirin
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The American Left’s China Exception: The Case of Dave Zirin
    23 Feb 2022
    Anti-China propaganda is often spread by those who call themselves leftists but who are in fact liberal imperialists.
  • H.R. 6600 Would Impose More Harsh and Illegal US Sanctions, this time on Ethiopia and Eritrea
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    H.R. 6600 Would Impose More Harsh and Illegal US Sanctions, this time on Ethiopia and Eritrea
    23 Feb 2022
    House Resolution 6600, the misnamed Ethiopia Stabilization, Peace, and Democracy Act, has moved from th
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us