by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Our poet shares a scene from a late nite NYC subway ride home from this years' holiday party of the National Writers Union.
Oh, what a night…
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
“Oh, what a night…”
Red letters emblazoning big white cake
“Workers of the WORD, Unite!”
150 small, cloth flags hanging
from the ceiling, above our food,
Representing places, spaces
Working-class brothers and sisters gather
Breaking bread, sipping wine, gulping water…
Making memories, visualizing peace—better lives—
Not children’s, grandchildren’s broken, bloody bodies…
“Oh, what a night…”
Our NWU holiday party
Wild women of the WORD—
Friendships of fifty years
Talking “class struggle”, “socialism”
A woman, UAW leader, pops in
Announcing victory:
Research and Teaching Assistants
Won unionization at Columbia!
“Oh, what a night…”
Six bottles of sparking cider lighter,
On the A Train, heading
Home to Harlem in a hurry
Brothers behind me loud talkin’—
Not dissin’ or arguing—more like preachin’
To the choir
Brother One’s shouting ‘bout Cuba’s
schools and literacy compared to here.
Brother Two’s chimin’ in ‘bout the Bay of Pigs,
Allen Dulles, killing of Kennedy— just before
Brother Three jumps to billionaire appointees
Only in New York!
“Oh, what a night…”
Never mind three delays
between 34th and 125th
Couldn’t take it any longer—
Got up, got some of that WORD:
“Is this ‘The Friendship Train’
Listen to us—woop-woop—…doin’ our thing?
Y’all scaring me and folks up front with
that revolutionary foolishness!”
Smiling eyes, belly laugh betrayed me—but
Crescendo “Oooh!” response to my call:
“Hell, folks been asleep 8 years!”
Plus, pregnant pause, birthed this poem
Granting you permission to: pimp-slap, kick
fear-mongers to the curb; they squander
Seeds of struggle, rays of resistance… Listen to
Lil’ David’s lesson: Goliath’s gotta bring ass to kick ass…
Poet’s Note:
NWU is National Writers Union
UAW is United Auto Workers
Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 All Rights Reserved
Free All Political, Elderly and Covid-Infected Prisoners, Say Mumia Supporters
“The US is responsible for the complete destabilization of Haitian democracy and the complete loss of Haitian sovereignty,” said Dr Jemima Pierre, an anthropologist in the African
“As soon as movements emerge that identify the normal operations of the police” and other capitalist institutions as the problem, the regime directs the language of the debate towards reform, said
Dr Johanna Fernandez and other advocates for Mumia Abu Jamal asked the city of Philadelphia to “stand with common humanity who face illness” and “bring our elderly population home,
The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee speaks on Ray Wood’s deathbed 'non-confession' to crimes committed before and during the great leader’s assassination.
