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

For my Niece (and Me)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Jan 2023
🖨️ Print Article
For my Niece (and Me)

                                                                                                      For my Niece  

                                                                                                        (and Me )

                                                                                          “If ever I would leave you…

                                                                                          it wouldn’t be in Summer…”

                                                                                                 —Frederick Loewe

 

An invisible boxer’s blow

on the chin… Everything’s

fuzzy…

Everything’s a blue blur…

Can it ever be the same?

Velvet-gloved gut punch—

first surreal breath inhaled

by burglarized lungs. First breath

Without the one who pushed,

cursed, labored you into the mix—

jumped you in the game…

First surreal second

minute/hour

day/week

month/year

First surreal breath

inhaled

Without the one who pushed,

cursed, labored you into the mix—

jumped you in the game

Weeping…spending tears wisely—

you wish sweet, long Goodnight…

Grieving’s your puzzle; your prayer

strengthening memories pregnant with

Pain—And blurred by joy…

After the soprano hits tear notes; After

the last fiery phrase preached fades

After the quietest ride through the ‘hood

After uttering of “Ashes to ashes…”

After the flowers fade, wilt, brown; And

After the women go back to their shows and

hair— And the men back to boxing, basketball

and Church of the NFL

A song remains…

Let it lullaby you sleep—loop loving dreams

in living color;

Let it moan on its own—spirit swollen within;

Or, just

Let it sit silently in your throat and dissolve…

…like a honeyed, healing cough drop into:

“Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child

Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child

Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child—

A long ways from home…”

© 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.

Grief

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


More Stories


  • Protest and Power
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Protest and Power
    02 Jul 2020
    Building People’s Power is the vital arena of struggle under late stage capitalism, when the “system” is not only objectively failing, but the people know it is coming apart at t
  • Freedom Rider: Russia, Afghanistan, and the Big Lie
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Russia, Afghanistan, and the Big Lie
    01 Jul 2020
    Far from being an enemy, Russia assisted the U.S. and its coalition in their fight against the Taliban.
  • Neocolonial African Conservation Inspired by “Tarzan”
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Neocolonial African Conservation Inspired by “Tarzan”
    01 Jul 2020
    Ann Garrison responds to a critic of neocolonial nature “conservation” in Africa, and discusses US-backed threats to national sovereignty and all forms of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • Syria, Corporate Media Lies, and the True Face of Imperialism: An Interview with Richard Medhurst
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Syria, Corporate Media Lies, and the True Face of Imperialism: An Interview with Richard Medhurst
    01 Jul 2020
    If independent media want to be a real counterweight to establishment media, they must challenge the status quo in its entirety.
  • How Do You Spell Desecration of African Burials?: “Nigger!”
    Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, BAR editor and columnist
    How Do You Spell Desecration of African Burials?: “Nigger!”
    01 Jul 2020
    Much of the nation may be repudiating white supremacy, but not Montgomery County, Maryland, which is paving over sacred  Black ground in an attempt to bury its own racist history.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us