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

Poem For Zigi
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
05 Jul 2017
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

This week's offering from BAR's poet in residence was also published this week at Dissident Voice.

 

Poem For Zigi

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

“…the greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return…”
‘Nature Boy’ by Eden Ahbez

Jet black gondola
2017-07-05 11:54:34 -0400glides across the resting lake
to Bata drumming dock,
African ritual;
Double rainbow of
Family and friends,
Connect like braided bread,
Waiting to share coconut,
white chocolate, lemon zest treat—
Our seven hour chat
“covering everything
from Ellington to
Engels…” earned Us…

Steamed tears stream on
Bent notes of
“The Nearness of You”
Blue glass explodes beneath
my white shoe;
Rich in Bandmates,

“…the greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return…”
‘Nature Boy’ by Eden Ahbez

Jet black gondola
glides across the resting lake
to Bata drumming dock,
African ritual;
Double rainbow of
Family and friends,
Connect like braided bread,
Waiting to share coconut,
white chocolate, lemon zest treat—
Our seven hour chat
“covering everything
from Ellington to
Engels…” earned Us…

Steamed tears stream on
Bent notes of
“The Nearness of You”
Blue glass explodes beneath
my white shoe;
Rich in Bandmates,
Best Man Son, Daughter,
Sistars; Ancestors bear
bouquets emblazoned,
“Mazel Tov!”
and crowd gold chuppah—
more beautiful than perfect

Reaching into Van Gogh
skies—plucking the
left-handed, curly-topped
Angel I’d asked for,
For a trek across
the heavens; After
decades daydreaming,
decades longing
for my Soulmate—a
Brother caught a break—
Flourishing in her
Galaxy of Love

’Twas Fathers Day too—
Papi growled, per usual,
“Take care of each other…”
Champagne whispering—
“Don’t fuck it up,”
Shooing us off to Tour Eiffel…

Best Man Son, Daughter,
Sistars; Ancestors bear
bouquets emblazoned,
“Mazel Tov!”
and crowd gold chuppah—
more beautiful than perfect

Reaching into Van Gogh
skies—plucking the
left-handed, curly-topped
Angel I’d asked for,
For a trek across
the heavens; After
decades daydreaming,
decades longing
for my Soulmate—a
Brother caught a break—
Flourishing in her
Galaxy of Love

’Twas Fathers Day too—
Papi growled, per usual,
“Take care of each other…”
Champagne whispering—
“Don’t fuck it up,”
Shooing us off to Tour Eiffel…

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


More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio May 6, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 6, 2022
    06 May 2022
    SCOTUS, Roe v Wade and left politics, Racism in UK immigration policy, and Workers' Struggle in Haiti in this week's Black Agenda Radio.
  • Roe v. Wade and American Politics
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Roe v. Wade and American Politics
    06 May 2022
    Pascal Robert is co-host of the This is Revolution podcast. He is also a long-time contributor to Black Agenda Report as well as to Newsweek. He joins us from Miami, Florida to discuss the recent…
  • Racist Immigration Policy in the UK
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Racist Immigration Policy in the UK
    06 May 2022
    Glenroy Watson is a Pan-African trade unionist who is Secretary of the Global Afrikan Congress, UK Chapter. He joins us to discuss the continuation of Hostile Environment immigration policies in the…
  • Workers' Struggle in Haiti
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Workers' Struggle in Haiti
    06 May 2022
    Dahoud Andre is a member of KOMOKODA, the Community to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti, and host of Eritye Papa Desalin, the Heirs of Jean Jacques Dessalines, a daily Haitian community radio…
  • Censorship and the War on Black America
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    Censorship and the War on Black America
    05 May 2022
    Erica Caines, Editor of Hood Communist and Coordinating Committee Member for the Black Alliance for Peace, joins the stream to discuss the New McCarthyism and its implications.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us