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


  • Biden’s Philly Headquarters Rents a Fence to Stop the Poor People’s Army
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Biden’s Philly Headquarters Rents a Fence to Stop the Poor People’s Army
    19 Aug 2020
    Cheri Honkala tells Ann Garrison that the Biden campaign headquarters threw up a rent-a-fence when they heard the Poor People’s Army was coming.
  • Beirut BOOM
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Beirut BOOM
    19 Aug 2020
    A big BOOM— 27,000 tons of ammonium nitrate… chemical compound for agricultural  Fertilizer…  ‘stored’ 6 years at the port of Beirut 220 dead 5,000 injured
  • Kopmala’s Padlocks and the Games Politicians Play
    Paul Street
    Kopmala’s Padlocks and the Games Politicians Play
    19 Aug 2020
    The Big Business-backed Harris earned a reputation as a friend of the police and an agent of racially disparate mass incarceration.
  • Modern U.S. Racial Capitalism: Some Theoretical Insights
    Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    Modern U.S. Racial Capitalism: Some Theoretical Insights
    19 Aug 2020
    Anti-Blackness and antiradicalism function as the legitimating architecture of modern U.S. racial capitalism.
  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Choudhry  Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    19 Aug 2020
    This week protests in Portland and Racial Capitalism were on your minds.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us