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


  • BAR Book Forum: GerShun Avilez’s “Black Queer Freedom”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: GerShun Avilez’s “Black Queer Freedom”
    30 Sep 2020
    The author helps us think about Blackness, queerness, and artistic production in new lights.
  • Health Justice and Black Liberation: Ugo Edu
    Gwendolyn Wallace and Roberto Sirvent 
    Health Justice and Black Liberation: Ugo Edu
    30 Sep 2020
    State violence directly impacts communities’ and individual’s ability to feel well, safe, dignified, respected, and valued.
  • Is Freedom White?
    Jefferson Cowie
    Is Freedom White?
    30 Sep 2020
    Now as in the past, much of the talk about American “freedom” is really about white people’s presumed right to dominate everyone else. 
  • Racism and Health
    Margaret Flowers
    Racism and Health
    30 Sep 2020
    The racist roots of healthcare in this country run as deep as the slavery underpinnings of policing. 
  • Hunger in America, Especially for Children, Has “Skyrocketed” During Pandemic
    Jon Schwarz
    Hunger in America, Especially for Children, Has “Skyrocketed” During Pandemic
    30 Sep 2020
    Census data show 19 percent of Black households did not have enough food to eat in the past week, compared to 7 percent of white households.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us