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

Scouting
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Jan 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Scouting
Boy Scouts in Arlington, Virginia in 1953 (Image: Arlington public library)

Scouting

day dreaming, dreaming, anticipating

a Hollywood Bowl where some master

painter splashed stars

all over night’s navy blue canvas…

Wow! Were we in awe? So insignificant

in the grand scheme of the

painting; its sovereign clarity—

its status; its ultimate one-upmanship?

day dreaming, dreaming, anticipating

more navy blue pants, more navy blue shirts,

caps; and gold scarves of fledgling Cub Scouts…

Our yellow bus pulled

into the lower lot among

an armada of other yellow busses

day dreaming, dreaming, anticipating

crisp practice of white handbook pages;

of memorized rules—cherished code of

Conduct—One for all/All for one ways

of being in the world…

Our yellow bus pulled

into the lower lot among

an armada of other yellow busses

day dreaming, dreaming, anticipating

tent talk; talk of knots tied with wider,

with new navy blue crew…

Our yellow bus pulled up and parked

among the armada of yellow busses—

Unloading more blue pants, blue shirts,

caps; more gold scarves… Unloading expresso,

mocha, tan, paper bag brown, cinnamon, caramel cargo…

Before—without warning—awful reign of rocks fell from

Lot above—Fell with wild, weaponized cries:

“GO HOME CHOCOLATE DROPS!!!!”

“GO HOME CHOCOLATE DROPS!!!!”

“GO HOME CHOCOLATE DROPS!!!!”



© 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.

Anti-Black Racism
Los Angeles

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


More Stories


  • x
    Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns Establishment of Colonial Military Governance Over Haiti by UN Security Council
    03 Oct 2025
    The United Nations has once again acted against the interests of the Haitian people in approving yet another military occupation under the guise of humanitarian action.
  • sovereign media launch
    Sovereign Media
    Anti-Imperialist Coalition Sovereign Media Launches Today
    01 Oct 2025
    Today, we launch Sovereign Media, an anti-imperialist coalition bringing together voices from the Global South and the Global North who refuse to bow to censorship or empire.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Trump Declares War on the U.S.
    01 Oct 2025
    Donald Trump has declared war on the “enemy within” and put the military on notice that they will mete out the same treatment domestically that they dispense around the world.
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Trump “Peace Plan” A Cynical Cover to Continue Campaign of Palestinian Extermination
    01 Oct 2025
    The so-called "peace deal" does not offer peace; it demands surrender. The Trump plan is the manifestation of a colonial logic that believes might makes right.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    LETTER: To My People, Assata Shakur, 1973
    01 Oct 2025
    “There is and always will be, until every Black man, woman, and child is free, a Black Liberation Army.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us