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 Fancy Miss Nancy
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Dec 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Nancy Sue Wilson 1937-2018
Nancy Sue Wilson 1937-2018

Guess who I saw
today, black and white photo,
Marching, Montgomery from
Selma, ‘65?

Guess who I saw
at my high school swingin’ the
Trio; urging us to stay in school?

Guess who I,
was privileged to sequence
a later CD for, late one night?

…and you don’t know, you don’t know how
Glad I am that she
put the purr in whisper, with a sultry
Sound that could make subpoenas seem sensuous

…and you don’t know, you don’t know how
Glad I am that she
Appeared, sparkling, at the end of the
golden era—looking as good as she sounded—
Her face should grace
Buckeye State flags emblazoned
“There will never be another you…”

…and you don’t know, you don’t know how
Glad I am that she
Hovered earth— stunning hummingbird,
gorgeous humanitarian, giving the greatest
performance of her life, moments I loitered—
not seizing the time and asking, “When did
You leave heaven?”
Though, I think it was maybe ’37? I know she’s

Free Again…

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

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


More Stories


  • Say Its Name: Genocide!
    Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, BAR editor and columnist
    Say Its Name: Genocide!
    17 Jun 2020
    Unless we identify genocide as the common underpinning to all of the brutality directed against Black people in the US, we are talking about the wrong thing.
  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    17 Jun 2020
    This week colonial genocides, white supremacy, and the Democratic Party’s role were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Samantha N. Sheppard’s “Sporting Blackness”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Samantha N. Sheppard’s “Sporting Blackness”
    17 Jun 2020
    Black memory is a muscle trained, flexed, and disciplined by colonialism, enslavement, and racial terror, as well as collective Black struggle.
  • BAR Book Forum: Kristen R. Ghodsee’s “Second World, Second Sex”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Kristen R. Ghodsee’s “Second World, Second Sex”
    17 Jun 2020
    Socialist ideas about the inextricable links between class, race, and gender predate the concept of intersectionality. 
  • ​​​​​​​Re-Embracing Internationalism and Class Solidarity in the Time of #BlackLivesMatter
    Berna Ellorin and Adrian Bonifacio
    ​​​​​​​Re-Embracing Internationalism and Class Solidarity in the Time of #BlackLivesMatter
    17 Jun 2020
    The struggle against systemic racism and the police state in the US is integral and linked to the struggle against US wars of aggression overseas. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us