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


  •  Beware Biden-Harris Neoliberalism
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford , Rebecca Ann Wilcox
    Beware Biden-Harris Neoliberalism
    08 Dec 2020
    Corporate Democrats may be more dangerous than overt racists, because neoliberals “cloak themselves in the rhetoric of ‘racial uplift,’” said Rebecca Ann Wilcox, a community organi
  • BLM Chapters Demand “Accountability” from Trio that Cashed in on the Movement
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    BLM Chapters Demand “Accountability” from Trio that Cashed in on the Movement
    03 Dec 2020
    Ten chapters of the national Black Lives Matter organization are in open revolt against the individuals that have treated the mass movement as their personal vehicle for upward political, prof
  • Ethiopia: Civil War and Nation Building in the 21st Century
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ethiopia: Civil War and Nation Building in the 21st Century
    02 Dec 2020
    In light of the Ethiopian central government’s military clash with regional forces in Tigray province, Ann Garrison speaks with a member of the Oromo people, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia.
  • Freedom Rider: Israel and the U.S. Assassinate Peace
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Israel and the U.S. Assassinate Peace
    02 Dec 2020
    Israel and Saudi Arabia are doing everything in their power to prevent Biden from rejoining the nuclear agreement -- and Biden’s team has nothing to say.
  • The Black Agenda Review: A Manifesto of First Principles
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    The Black Agenda Review: A Manifesto of First Principles
    02 Dec 2020
    The Black Agenda Review will function as a weekly supplement to the regular editorial content of the Black Agenda Report.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us