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

For Breonna Taylor (And my Bry)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
27 May 2020
🖨️ Print Article
For Breonna Taylor (And my Bry)
For Breonna Taylor (And my Bry)

How I wish I could sing her name 
like Brother Ray or ‘Ree—
‘Cause Breonna Taylor’s real close 
to Bryana Turner to me

I wish I could sing her name 
like Abbey, Nina, or Big Paul—
Celebrating  the sunny
June home birth I recall…

I wish I could sing her name 
like Mahalia or Clara Ward—
Feeling my hand again
cutting an umbilical cord

I wish I could sing her name 
like Sarah or Natalie Cole—
But, the recorder reminds 
me that that’s not my role…

I wish I could sing her name 
like Lil’ Richard or Betty Wright—
Hearing Mingus’s ‘Haitian’ song 
that urges me to “Fight!”

I wish I could sing her name 
and other names, other towns—
Galvanizing Black Folks—and
fifty million John Browns…

© 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com .

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.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
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
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
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Pa
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.

More Stories


  •  Afro-Pessimism and the (Un)Logic of Anti-Blackness
    Annie Olaloku-Teriba
    Afro-Pessimism and the (Un)Logic of Anti-Blackness
    19 May 2021
    Entrenched in anti-racist theory and practice today is the belief that all racial and ethnic domination is structured around a global hierarchy, with “white” people at the top and “black” people at
  • BAR Book Forum: Katrinell M. Davis’ “Tainted Tap”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Katrinell M. Davis’ “Tainted Tap”
    19 May 2021
    Activists and community organizers should be inspired by the work of elders engaged in social change.
  • Forum: Rosemarie Freeney Harding and Rachel Elizabeth Harding’s “Remnants”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Rosemarie Freeney Harding and Rachel Elizabeth Harding’s “Remnants”
    19 May 2021
    There is a need and desire among folks in activist communities for resources of ritual and spiritual grounding.
  • Saying Her Name
    Heather Ann Thompson
    Saying Her Name
    19 May 2021
    Remains that were found to be those of a Black MOVE teen-ager who was killed by Philadelphia police in 1985 were treated as an anthropological specimen.
  • The Police “Just Launched a War”
    J. Lester Feder
    The Police “Just Launched a War”
    19 May 2021
    Do some, most or all US police departments have a pattern and practice of racial bias that makes them fundamentally unable to regulate themselves?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us