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

Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
07 Jun 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Another June 1
(Photo: Twitter @EllenMBlalock)

                                                                                              Another June 1

 

Another June 1. And I’m

Here. Vertical. Grateful.

Thankful.

…Didn’t expect to see a score…

Another June 1. And I possess

Poetic License to

Try and Trane—Practice in Empire and

Golden States. Wow!

The poems are not perfect. Not precious.

Still TSA-ok. Still not worthy of banning

in Sunshine, Magnolia, or Lone Star States.

Another June 1. And I’m proud

that a Brooklynite now 99; former IBM—

Italian Business Men—employee christened me

“The Town Crier.” “The Peoples Poet” sobriquet

Garnered in L.A.

Another June 1. And I’m proud

The poems still have blistered feet. Are still lunch

bucket, hardhat, steel-toe. Are still for food chain folks—

Backs bent in fields.

Still for the sped-up, overworked crowd. Still for the

Shoe leather legislators—street heat senators—Good

Trouble-shooters of all hues/All seasons: Arab Spring;

George Floyd Summer; Strike-tober; Occupy/ones coming

Another June 1. And I’m proud

of metastasizing with Boss Tweet’s blitzkrieg—

‘His’140 character vowel movements. ‘His’ daily,

dirty bomb Psy-Op sorties ‘starting’ 2016.

Proud of resisting despair—dark migratory moods of

Family, friends, and community.

I’m proud the poems have short weaponized shelf lives!

Proud they are disposable. Proud they are urgent wound

Care poems. Use them! Toss them in the trash! Flush them

down your toilets! I promise they won’t clog drains or pipes…

 

Š 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe and PayPal.

Black arts movement
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
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
 BAR Book Forum: Damien M. Sojoyner’s Book, “Joy and Pain”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Damien M. Sojoyner’s Book, “Joy and Pain”
11 January 2023
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
POEM: There it is, Jayne Cortez, 2009
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: There it is, Jayne Cortez, 2009
19 October 2022
The late Jayne Cortez spits fire, reminding us of the need to fight, resist, organize, and unify to seize power.
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
15 July 2021
Could the pigment of your imagination cause Black magic mascots, props, sops— Black faces in high places—
A known known…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A known known…
08 July 2021
“…there are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
01 July 2021
“History repeats itself,  first as tragedy, second as farce.” —Karl Marx
The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
23 June 2021
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs…” â€”Karl Marx
The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
16 June 2021
“Ain’t no power like the power of the people— ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop!” bouncing 

More Stories


  • Abayomi Azikiwe
    African Americans and the Cold War from Civil Rights to Black Power
    13 Mar 2024
    The end of the Second Imperialist War (World War II) did not usher in the end of colonialism and oppression for Africans on the continent and in the diaspora. The resistance of Pan-African movements…
  • Jeb Sprague , Kit Klarenberg
    Secret cable: CIA orchestrated Haiti’s 2004 coup
    13 Mar 2024
    A classified diplomatic cable obtained by The Grayzone reveals the role of a veteran CIA officer in violently overthrowing Haiti’s popular President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004.
  • Frank Chapman
    Frank Chapman Calls on Communities to Unite and Oppose Racist Attacks on Migrants
    13 Mar 2024
    Frank Chapman calls on Black and Brown communities in Chicago to unite in struggle against the forces that oppress us all.
  • Joe Biden collage
    K.J. Noh 
    US Readies 'Transnational Kill Chain' For Taiwan Proxy War
    13 Mar 2024
    The U.S. is putting into place the final pieces to spark another proxy war, this time in Taiwan.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 8, 2024
    08 Mar 2024
    A discussion about violence against a Black woman in the Black liberation movement and the political actions planned for this summer's upcoming nominating conventions. First, the story of a professor…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us