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Slick Willy and the sandwiches
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
18 Sep 2019
🖨️ Print Article
Slick Willy and the sandwiches
Slick Willy and the sandwiches

Slick Willy swears he 
only took four flights
and gorged himself on
peanut butter and jelly 
Sandwiches—take off to 
landing…

Slick Willy says he flew
for the sandwiches—the 
sandwiches roused him—
Got him out of the house.
The sandwiches showed
him just how much he 
needed to 
Fly—breathe rarified air—
33,000 feet up in the wild
blue yonder, and clear his 
Head…bird of paradise had
the best peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches in the hemi-
sphere, if not the world! Slick 
Willy’s sandwicheswere served 
on white bread with crunchy 
Skippy’s, and Smuckers grape jelly, 
Always.
The green tea too was great—its
young, tender leaves, electric color
and robust flavor…but the sandwiches
rocked!

Slick Willy said the sandwiches
reminded him of simpler, innocent
times—Mickey Mouse Club, Mouseketeer
ears, cold war, drop drills after Hiroshima
and Nagasaki; and niggers knew their place—
black lives mattered: if the Sheriff said so…
He’s so sorry so many of our people are be-
hind bars—but someone had tobring super 
predators to heel,and be tough on crime…

Slick Willy said the sandwiches were worth
all the TSA (Theater Security Actors) screening, 
searching, patting him down—strike that!
That’s not his recollection. He did say the
sandwiches reminded him of how far he’d 
Come—white trash to First Black President—
Remember the saxophone and shades?
Fast foodto Foundation—Beltway outsider to
Viceroy of Haiti and Secret Service detail to 
Ditch

Slick Willy said he only flew four times—
As for manifests, memory refreshing flight
logs, etc.…Well, maybe he flew four x four +
four times—give or take a few? Hey, what’s
with all the hair-splitting?

Slick Willy said he recalls—
to the best of his recollection—
He recalls Tattoo shouting, “De plane, de plane!”
and correcting him harshly with the back of his 
hand,“Nah, nah, lil silly muthafucka—
it’s the sandwiches, the sandwiches!”

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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