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


  • British Soldiers on the Beach at Dunkirk - Cassowary Colorizations
    Nu'man Abd al-Wahid
    Decolonising Dunkirk – Genocidal White Supremacists at War with Each Other
    02 Nov 2021
    The history of World War II often repeats the narrative of good vs. bad Europeans. In reality, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium perpetrated as many atrocities as the Germans.
  • Russell “Maroon” Shoatz is Free, But Other Political Prisoners Languish
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Russell “Maroon” Shoatz is Free, But Other Political Prisoners Languish
    27 Oct 2021
    The demand for freedom of political prisoners must be consistently made for their sakes and for all at risk of joining them in the future.
  • Biden is No FDR  and Build Back Better Legislation Proves It
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Biden is No FDR and Build Back Better Legislation Proves It
    27 Oct 2021
    The idea that Joe Biden is the "most progressive president since FDR" is a propaganda device meant to quiet the Democratic Party left and force them to stand down.
  • ESSAY: The African Woman Today, Ama Ata Aidoo, 1992.
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The African Woman Today, Ama Ata Aidoo, 1992.
    27 Oct 2021
    Ama Ata Aidoo has provided some of the most clear-eyed and materialist analyses of the social and political life of women on the African continent.
  • Taiwan Demonstrates that the American Empire is a Paper Tiger
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Taiwan Demonstrates that the American Empire is a Paper Tiger
    27 Oct 2021
    Taiwan has long been the rationale for meddling in China's affairs but the latest interference poses great danger for "paper tiger" nation.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us