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

Redouble our efforts…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
22 Apr 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner

When our giants go down, our spines must straighten up and create new beginnings.

 

Redouble our efforts…

(For Robert Knight, Chokwe, Amiri,

And others known and less known…)

by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner

 

When our Knights are captured 

Or fall on battlefields, as they 

Surely must, and we lose their

Brilliant lights and we are

Scrambling to pry pens,

Swords, spears, bread and

Roses from stainless steel 

Grips of their icy hands—

Scrambling to hoist our 

Fallen banners, temporarily

Mired in mud and blood, 

Even higher, scrambling 

To staunch rivulets of

Brine from our sweetly

Shattered hearts…

 

When our giants — in 

All sizes — go down, 

Our spines straighten

Honoring, immortalizing,

Their legends, burnished 

Names, by divvying up

Cosmic, ancient, work

Creating them in the 

Beginning…

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 All Rights Reserved

 

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Colombia: The Friends and Enemies of Petro
    Gustavo Bolívar
    Colombia: The Friends and Enemies of Petro
    14 Jun 2023
    Colombia's new president is popular with the people but beset by enemies. It is a common situation where the popular vote is not indicative of who really holds political power.
  • A Deadly Fight: Senegal’s Political Crisis Escalates After Repression of Protesters
    Tanupriya Singh
    A Deadly Fight: Senegal’s Political Crisis Escalates After Repression of Protesters
    14 Jun 2023
    At least 16 people were killed after protests broke out in Senegal following the sentencing of leading opposition figure Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison. Mass public unrest has grown against…
  • Anniversary Report: Six-Day War, Democratic Republic of The Congo
    Friends of the Congo
    Anniversary Report: Six-Day War, Democratic Republic of The Congo
    14 Jun 2023
    Uganda and Rwanda began their incursions into the Democratic Republic of Congo 23 years ago. Full reparations to victims have not been paid and the two invader countries still act with impunity.
  • Second Session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Second Session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent
    09 Jun 2023
    Tunde Osazua is Outreach Coordinator for Black Alliance for Peace and a civil society representative in the UN Permanent Forum on People of African D
  • Black Agenda Radio June 9, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio June 9, 2023
    09 Jun 2023
    In this week’s segment we will hear about the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta that challenges that city’s political leadership to end their plans for a militarized police facility, and in New Yor
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us