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


  • Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?
    BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
    Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?
    08 Jan 2020
    This Orange Age outrage— Reich of the child’s cage Cancer at fourth stage— Rogue state’s rampage… is a tiny blip on capitalism’s  Continuum…
  • Beware Imperialist Gaslighting – Assassination is Not Legal
    Mark P. Fancher
    Beware Imperialist Gaslighting – Assassination is Not Legal
    08 Jan 2020
    The U.S. government has been in the business of killing foreign leaders for a long time – but it’s still a crime.
  • The Anti-War Movement is Fired Up!
    Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
    The Anti-War Movement is Fired Up!
    08 Jan 2020
    It is imperative that the antiwar movement grows exponentially very quickly and becomes a major force in 2020.
  • BAR Book Forum: “Books I Teach”
    Erica Caines
    BAR Book Forum: “Books I Teach”
    08 Jan 2020
    Black adults must not allow “Hollywood to fill in the blanks” in our children’s understanding of Black history.
  • BAR Book Forum: “Books I Teach”
    Alaina Morgan
    BAR Book Forum: “Books I Teach”
    08 Jan 2020
    The question of where to search for the histories of Black people in the diaspora, is of paramount importance. “Freedom and unfreedom are not binaries.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us