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 Slick Willy Rides Again!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Aug 2019
 Slick Willy Rides Again!
 Slick Willy Rides Again!

Don't know if it was the Bible
That said it, or if it was Confucius— 
Or, if I just made this shit up:
"Beware of the one riding in
Bareback, facing backwards on
An ol' mule, for he is an impostor!”
Lo and behold, The Great White
Foundation Father, Vice-
Roy of Haiti and Harlem, nurse-
Maid of NAFTA, demon of de-
Regulation, did it with class in
Tobacco country stables, Offal
Office of the DNC dog and pony show

Like Coltrane licks unrelenting from 
“Out Of This World," repeating in my 
Mind hermaneutics of suspicion swirling

Like steroid-driven dervishes...I NEVER
Trusted that M$%#[email protected]!*... that silvery-
Tongued, false-fingering saxophonist
From Arkansas—even if an ass-kissing
Arsenio showed the candidate A “Love
Supreme...”
I saw through that saran-wrapped
Charlatan who would imprison
Nixon-numbers of Black men and
Women; dismantle welfare with
Workfare from Reagan's wet dreams;
Bomb Bosnia; bless derivatives and
Deconstruction of Glass-Steagall,
During his “peacetime” presidency...

But, Negroz, who've become 
Fat and flabby from high fructose
Corn syrup years of sweetheart 
Dealing Black faces in high places—
Black faces aspiring for soft leather 
Chairs in corporate boardrooms and
Enough cash to stash in Cayman Island
Accounts, and their home freezers—
These Negroz screamed and shouted, 
"Slick Willy was masterful, he hit it
“Out of the park!"

Him was masterful, alright, him
Still a master after all, ain't him?

But in the fields, we keep our
Gazes fixed firmly on the Drinking
Gourd, the North Star, found just
Over picket signs, on picket lines...

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

Our poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com

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