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

AB
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
14 Jan 2014
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner

Still the syn-tactical surgeon

With precision pen, atomic tenor,

Suturing my severed tongue

 

AB

by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner

 

Ho Chi Minh penned in

Prison Poems, the

Poet must also

Know how to lead an attack

Not a god or stamp, you

Are still my father, son and

Holy-ghost, post-Langston,

Sterling poet warrior

 

Still the syn-tactical surgeon

With precision pen, atomic tenor,

Suturing my severed tongue

 

Still the armory

Issuing anti-fracking ordinance

For strikes on Mengeles

At Monsanto

 

Still the arsenal

Supplying smart bombs for

Our war on government-guided

Attack-Negroz like

Da Men of Steele — Shelby and

Michael — Long Dong Silver, AKA,

Thom-Ass Clarence, Ward Connerly,

Colin Powell and dem imperialist Rice wenches…

 

I searched frantically for you at the end

Of the Apollo’s Sekou Sundiata celebration;

I jumped over a chair, just missing you, at

The Harlem Stage tribute to Abbey Lincoln;

 

Finally, caught you at the Schomburg’s

Langston Hughes Auditorium, at the

Fidel-Malcolm Meeting book talk—

Forgave you for slipping

On Iceberg Slim, and

Told you, “I LOVE YOU…”

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 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


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Denial is Not a River in Egypt, or in Venezuela
    03 Jun 2026
    The U.S. regime change plot against Venezuela succeeded and created a puppet state. Anti-imperialists must admit this reality and forge plans for fighting against it.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    POEM: To The Aircraft Carrier Intrepid, Pedro Mir, 1962
    03 Jun 2026
    Oh, carrier Intrepid/you in these torrid waters of Santo Domingo/only out of fear.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Fourth and Long: The Curious Juxtaposition of Jaxson Dart and Colin Kaepernick
    03 Jun 2026
    The same sports media that celebrate Jaxson Dart's endorsement of Donald Trump called Kaepernick's anti-police violence protest disrespectful. The racial double standard has not changed since the…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Short word problems: do the math
    03 Jun 2026
    "Short word problems: do the math" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Dhoruba bin-Wahad
    Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Co-Founder of Black Liberation Army, Reflects on the Legacy of Assata Shakur and Revolutionary Sacrifice
    03 Jun 2026
    On May 30, 2026, a Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Assata Shakur was held at the Riverside Church in New York City. Dhoruba Bin Wahad, co-founder of the Black Liberation Army, wrote these words…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us