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

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.

Neoliberals

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


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Graylan Hagler: Capitulation Masquerading as Political Thought
30 April 2025
Liberals continue to condemn anyone who didn’t support Kamala Harris and the latest iteration of neo-liberal treachery.

More Stories


  • Social Democracy Will Not Save Us
    Benjamin Woods
    Social Democracy Will Not Save Us
    16 Nov 2022
    The author makes the case that liberalism is a dead end and that socialism is the only tool for Black liberation.
  • Colia Clark Presente!
    Kim Ives
    Colia Clark Presente!
    16 Nov 2022
    Colia Clark was a veteran of the Black Liberation Movement who worked with Medgar Evers, who was also affiliated with the NAACP and who served as Executive Secretary of the Student Non-Violent…
  • Migration and Climate Emergency in North Africa
    Ray Bush
    Migration and Climate Emergency in North Africa
    16 Nov 2022
    Imperialist wars and capitalist predation have accelerated the pace of migration from North African nations. The climate crisis worsens structural inequality between the global south…
  • COP27 Deliberations Reaffirm Imperialist States as Main Obstacle to Ending Climate Change
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    COP27 Deliberations Reaffirm Imperialist States as Main Obstacle to Ending Climate Change
    16 Nov 2022
    Developing countries and mass organizations at the COP17 summit continue to demand compensation for damage and loss created by fossil fuel production in industrialized capitalist nations. The…
  • Identity Without Responsibility
    Salifu Mack
    Identity Without Responsibility
    16 Nov 2022
    There have been endless news stories about basketball player Kyrie Irving. But insight on celebrity culture and acknowledgement of the confusion that is deliberately created in this country is…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us