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3 Little Words (For 2 EGs)
03 Jan 2018
🖨️ Print Article
3 Little Words (For 2 EGs)
3 Little Words (For 2 EGs), a poem by Raymond Nat Turner

One to three
three on one
Life hanging
on tatted arms
of a windpipe-
crushing Nazi thug
3 little words
12 letters
11 times
Not artful air escaping
sides of a saxophonist’s mouth

Song For Her Father—
Fire-breathing, bullhorn
Blues shouter; Drum major
Marching, meeting, texting, tweeting,
writing: raising roofs of consciousness;
Standing up, sitting-in,
Dying-in, boycotting, blockading,
Refusing rest; chasing the fugitive:
‘Justice’

One to three
three on one
Not a broken bicycle pump
or blacksmith’s bellows—
3 little words
12 letters
11 times
Not Codetalker
father to daughter

Membership in the club
Wanting no new members—
club never giving her
space, to catch her breath—
know how it feels to
Breathe free…
instead of crying herself to
sleep listening for footsteps of
‘Justice’

One to three
three on one—
Heart attack
asthma
cancer
coma
Her carryons boarding
Nonstops, tearing her heart
into a thousand tender shards…
3 little words
12 letters
11 times
Codetalker daughter to father:
Please put politicians “thoughts and prayers”
out with promises and dirty diapers…

All rights reserved 2018, Raymond Nat Turner.

Our poet in residence, Raymond Nat Turner is an accalimed performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

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