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

“No Matter What Sign You Are,”4th Supreme
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
16 Jan 2019
🖨️ Print Article
the supremes
The Supremes

Mary was mysterious,
but the best dancer
Diana, the magnetic,
cooing romancer—
But, here’s a secret I know:
cats like me dug Miss Flo—
And the 4th Supreme’s ‘fro!

The 4th Supreme came
Singing tones ‘tween
Douglass and Carmen McRae—
Malcolm X and Lady Day

The 4th Supreme came
Singing “Stop In The Name Of Love!”
by way of Brandeis/Bombing-ham—
hitting Dynamite Hill high notes

The 4th Supreme came
Singing “Reflections”
in silver bracelets, on a
Newsweek cover captioned:
“Red, Black and Wanted!”

Hoover hated her harmonies with millions…
But I heard, “Set me free, why don’t you, babe?”
Rocking me to “ …Try Something New:”
Dialectics…

 

The 4th Supreme came
Singing, “I Hear A Symphony—”
“No Matter What Sign You Are,”
in ’08—but I
forgive her and comrades
and friends for singing flat
Madison Avenue smash hits: “Yes,
we can and bottle Jim Jones Juice;”
“regime Change you can believe in—”
delivering “Nothing But Heartaches” to
Honduras, Libya, Syria, Mother Africa…

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Raymond Nat Turner, our poet in residence, is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

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


More Stories


  • Will the Assassination of Gen. Soleimani Be Trump’s 1914 Moment?
    Wilmer J. Leon III
    Will the Assassination of Gen. Soleimani Be Trump’s 1914 Moment?
    08 Jan 2020
    It appears that lies and/or false narratives are being used to rationalize this latest heinous act that may also result in another senseless war.
  • Assange and Manning are Being Persecuted for Speaking Truth to Power
    Leonard C. Goodman
    Assange and Manning are Being Persecuted for Speaking Truth to Power
    08 Jan 2020
    Had WikiLeaks existed in 2002, a patriotic officer like Chelsea Manning might have leaked the official intelligence reports and stopped a war.
  • The US Surges Into A Police State While Media White Out Structural Racism
    Netfa Freeman
    The US Surges Into A Police State While Media White Out Structural Racism
    08 Jan 2020
    Trump wants to “surge” against urban Black and brown Americans in the same way that the US surged against Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • Two Views on Queen & Slim
    From Enzo Calandra and Jelani Cobb
    Two Views on Queen & Slim
    08 Jan 2020
    The film is either “a meditation on a system of justice that treats innocent people as outlaws,” or “a bourgeois representation of the struggle against police oppression.”
  • The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism
    April Anson
    The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism
    08 Jan 2020
    Author Gerald Horne demonstrates that modernity arrived in the 17th century on the three horsemen of the apocalypse: slavery, white supremacy, and capitalism.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us