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


  • Racial Prejudice in Cuba
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Racial Prejudice in Cuba
    15 Sep 2021
    Contemporary conversations about racism in Cuba appear to have forgotten what it was like for Africans on the island republic before the Revolution.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    For My Friend Keasley (Autumn and E-Crew, 25/22)
    15 Sep 2021
    For My Friend Keasley (Autumn and E-Crew, 25/22) I. In my mind—and sometimes sub-vocally—I say his name  almost every day.
  •  BAR Book Forum: Nitasha Sharma’s Book, “Hawaiʻi Is My Haven”
    Roberto Sirvent
    BAR Book Forum: Nitasha Sharma’s Book, “Hawaiʻi Is My Haven”
    15 Sep 2021
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
  • President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya
    Don Rojas
    Historic Africa/CARICOM Summit
    15 Sep 2021
    African and Caribbean heads of government held an historic virtual meeting to strengthen international partnerships and gain true independence from neo-colonial control.
  • Manufacturing Dissent : US Imperialism and the Uses of Racism Against Cuba
    Alan MacLeod
    Manufacturing Dissent : US Imperialism and the Uses of Racism Against Cuba
    15 Sep 2021
    In Washington’s eyes, the point of funding Black, indigenous, LGBT or other minority groups in enemy countries is not simply to promote tensions there; it is also to create a narrative that wil
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us