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.
As Rwandan troops tightened their grip on the capitals of DRC’s Kivu Provinces, activists protested the National Basketball Association’s close collaboration with the Rwandan regime.
The deal for a prisoner exchange proposed by the El Salvadoran president presents a dangerous threat to incarcerated people in the U.S. The continued outsourcing of the U.S. penal system…
The economic stress on African American people shows itself in phenomena like marriage rates. What once was a benefit to Black communities and a path to the middle class, marriage is becoming…
"STICKUP: MORE for the GREEDY; less for the needy!!" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
The threats by the Trump administration to detain migrants in Guantanamo Bay will not be the first time the United States has used the facility for migrant detention. Not too long ago,…
