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

Big Eyz Fo' Massa William Mule
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 Feb 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Don' know what it tiz 'bout

Massa William, voice, smile?

His hornin'? He do play de sax,

Or, de carrut and stik he carry?

 

Big Eyz Fo' Massa William Mule

by Raymond Nat Turner

All dem big, fancy-ass Negroz

Got big eyz fo' – an' wanna ride

Massa William mule, dey say –

Dem say, it bring 'em honor,

Glory an' de dollas dey desuv

Fo' servus rendud – gettin' paid!

 

Dat ol' Charlatan boy got on

Massa William mule and

Didn't wanna get off & Cap'n

Fletcher had his britches all

Hiked up and was waggin'

His finger in our faces jus'
Lak Massa William do...

 

Dat fas-mouf, big wurd boy &

Dat Booker boy been eyein' Massa

William mule, evuh sinz Charlit

 

Don' know if Dem boyz know

How stubburn Massa William

Ol' mule be, won't let 'em mount

Him les daze ridin' bareback, bakwuds –

An' ain't no soap known to man

Kin get de odur off skin and cloz

 

Doz big fancy-ass Negroz talkin'

Fo' yeahs 'bout how dey tell Massa

William dey want dey freedum,

'Bout how de take dey freedum &

Massa William mule, too, if dey

Hav a mind to, dey say, Dem say

De mule de symbul ob power...

 

Dem big, fancy-ass Negroz talk'n

& Talk'n talk &, but when Massa 

William show up, dey freedum

Seemz no bigga den Massa 

William nex comman...

 

Don' know what it tiz 'bout

Massa William, voice, smile?

His hornin'? He do play de sax,

Or, de carrut and stik he carry?

Hurd one dem big, fancy-ass

Negroz sangin' "You mus undastan

Dat de bak ob his han make my pulze reak."

Miss Hillree mean, too, she jus' soon

Kill one dem big, fancy-ass Negroz

Den put on a pantz soot –

One ob de Haitian hired hep

Up in Harlem heard Ms Hillree

Cacklin' 'bout " a little poison!"

Negroz drinkin' de politks ob fear:

De Tea Party, de Coke Bros— wit

Cristal, Hennessey, fo' dey chasuh...

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

Raymond Nat Turner (c) 2012 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • Iran
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    U.S. and Israel Attempt Regime Change Against Iran
    23 Jan 2026
    Nina Farnia is an assistant professor at Albany Law School in New York. She is a legal historian, focusing on the role of modern imperialism in U.S. law and politics, and a member of the Anti-…
  • Tobi Raji
    RFK-backed Infant Vaccine Study in Africa to Proceed Despite Backlash, U.S. Says
    21 Jan 2026
    U.S. funding for a study on the timing of hepatitis B vaccine doses in infants in Guinea-Bissau violates accepted standards of medical ethics.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Racist, Imperialist U.S. Vassal Denmark Now Cries Over Greenland
    21 Jan 2026
    Donald Trump and other U.S. presidents are gangsters who will sometimes steal from their own crew. The Greenland heist is but the latest example, as the Denmark colonizers cry that they were robbed…
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Fragmentation, Force, and Fascism: The Architecture of the Repressive National Security State
    21 Jan 2026
    The state is not drifting toward repression; it is building it with serious intent. ICE raids, militarized police, and mass surveillance are the tools of a system designed to manage and silence…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: Reporting the News in the Heartland of Empire, William Worthy, 1970
    21 Jan 2026
    “From journalists…the greatest need of the moment is sound analysis of the U.S. empire and the focusing of the news spotlight on its far-flung sinister operations.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us