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
  • omnibus

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


  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    18 Mar 2020
    This week there was much discussion on the Sanders campaign, the black misleadership class, and the Covid-19.
  • BAR Book Forum: Kenneth Janken’s “The Wilmington Ten”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Kenneth Janken’s “The Wilmington Ten”
    18 Mar 2020
    The case of the Wilmington Ten was one of the most egregious instances of injustice and political repression from the post-World War II black freedom struggle.
  • Only policies that provide people with authority to hire and fire police, investigate, conduct hearings and decide punishment will end police brutality.
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Clarence Taylor’s “Fight the Power”
    18 Mar 2020
    Only policies that provide people with authority to hire and fire police, investigate, conduct hearings and decide punishment will end police brutality.
  • Elon Musk Is Acting Like a Neo-Conquistador for South America’s Lithium
    Vijay Prashad and Alejandro Bejarano 
    Elon Musk Is Acting Like a Neo-Conquistador for South America’s Lithium
    18 Mar 2020
    The billionaire is leading the scramble for Bolivia’s lithium resources under a coup government.
  • The Great Bernie Bust
    Daniel Lazare
    The Great Bernie Bust
    18 Mar 2020
    It is now all but certain that Joe Biden will be the Democratic candidate. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us