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

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

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation
Think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Think…
06 January 2021
Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers, 

More Stories


  • Ukraine: What Does it Have to Do with Black Folks?
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Ukraine: What Does it Have to Do with Black Folks?
    05 Jan 2022
    “…it is imperative that everyone, in particular Black and working-class people, understand that not having an awareness of the interconnections of the “grind” (the struggle to survive in the U.
  • The Black Agenda Review of Books
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    The Black Agenda Review of Books
    05 Jan 2022
    An overview of recent Black books that can help us get through the year ahead.
  • Don't Look Up Reflects the Cynicism of Capitalist Decay, for Better and for Worse
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Don't Look Up Reflects the Cynicism of Capitalist Decay, for Better and for Worse
    05 Jan 2022
    The controversial film offers insight into the crisis of the system but misses the mark in key areas.
  • Black Panthers, Sacramento CA 1967
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Copaganda
    05 Jan 2022
    Copaganda I.
  •  BAR Book Forum: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan’s “The Poetics of Difference”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan’s “The Poetics of Difference”
    05 Jan 2022
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us