My Wise Country Cousin and Ol’ blak Schmo

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

12 Aug 2020

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I came in de room wit
mah head bent low
pretendin’ defrenz to Ol’ blak Schmo.
Sekrit Servuz say, “Boy, if’n you ain’t
in no emediyit dangur
Here’s Vinyurd Travelin’ Papurs—
see de Drone Rangur…”

I jes’ stan dere red hot, an’ Blak
as a Crow—
I say, “ No, suh, I ‘se here to see
Ol’ blak Schmo…”

Den, I talks to Ol’ blak Schmo—
he a white man but he know
Bes’ what it is to be Blak—
an’ he tolt me, “Git on bak!”

Finully I axe Ol’ blak Schmo
Jus’ what it is to be Blak—
Ha-ha, he laff, an’ den say,
“Difrunz ‘tween powdur an’ crak!”

An’ den he say, “Fus you gotta Vote
fo’ me—Den go on bak ta sleep…
Keep yo’ moufs shut an ern yo’ keep!”

Secun, “Y’all git on back in ya seats!
Ya gotta stay outta Dem damn streets—
keep y’all’s blak asses out ob Dem streets;
Quit all ob dat ol’ votin’ wit yo’ feets!”

Thurd, wen de poleez kill anotha
nigga, lemme bring ‘em to de
Rows Gardun fo’ beer an’ a gud talkin’ to
dat otha lives might maddur besize Blu?
Wen de poleez rape a gal in de bak seet ob dey car
lemme bring ‘em here fo’ beer—an’ maybe we spar?
Wen de poleez frame a man an’ sen’ him off to jail
lemme bring ‘em here fo’ beer—dey's too big to fail…

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 .

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