Nancy Sue Wilson 1937-2018
Guess who I saw
today, black and white photo,
Marching, Montgomery from
Selma, ‘65?
Guess who I saw
at my high school swingin’ the
Trio; urging us to stay in school?
Guess who I,
was privileged to sequence
a later CD for, late one night?
…and you don’t know, you don’t know how
Glad I am that she
put the purr in whisper, with a sultry
Sound that could make subpoenas seem sensuous
…and you don’t know, you don’t know how
Glad I am that she
Appeared, sparkling, at the end of the
golden era—looking as good as she sounded—
Her face should grace
Buckeye State flags emblazoned
“There will never be another you…”
…and you don’t know, you don’t know how
Glad I am that she
Hovered earth— stunning hummingbird,
gorgeous humanitarian, giving the greatest
performance of her life, moments I loitered—
not seizing the time and asking, “When did
You leave heaven?”
Though, I think it was maybe ’37? I know she’s
Free Again…
© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.
Black memory is a muscle trained, flexed, and disciplined by colonialism, enslavement, and racial terror, as well as collective Black struggle.
Socialist ideas about the inextricable links between class, race, and gender predate the concept of intersectionality.
The struggle against systemic racism and the police state in the US is integral and linked to the struggle against US wars of aggression overseas.
Community control of police and prison abolition have been completely removed from the conversations dictated by a mainstream and complacent narrative.
Global Displacements is an examination of the impact of the global organization of capitalist accumulation and exploitation on the life and labor of Haitian and Dominica
