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


  • NATO and Africa
    Djibo Sobukwe
    NATO and Africa
    13 Jul 2022
    Djibo Sobukwe participated in a Canadian Foreign Policy Institute panel, "NATO and Global Empire" on June 30, 2022. These are his remarks on NATO and Africa.
  • BAR Book Forum: Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni’s Book, “Epistemic Freedom in Africa”
    Roberto Sirvent
    BAR Book Forum: Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni’s Book, “Epistemic Freedom in Africa”
    13 Jul 2022
    This week’s featured author is Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni. Dr. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Vice-Dean: Research, Africa…
  • BAR Book Forum “Sports and Black Struggle”: Interview with Courtney M. Cox
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum “Sports and Black Struggle”: Interview with Courtney M. Cox
    13 Jul 2022
    This week, we interview Courtney Cox. Dr. Courtney M. Cox is an assistant professor in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon. Her research examines issues…
  • Prison in Plain Sight: Visualizing the Economic Veins That Fuel Our Carceral Reality
    The Mapping Project
    Prison in Plain Sight: Visualizing the Economic Veins That Fuel Our Carceral Reality
    13 Jul 2022
    The prison system links corporate interests, the military industrial complex, and policing into a web of oppression impacting more than 2 million people in this country. The Mapping Project reports…
  • How Cuba Is Eradicating Child Mortality and Banishing the Diseases of the Poor
    Vijay Prashad, Manolo De Los Santos
    How Cuba Is Eradicating Child Mortality and Banishing the Diseases of the Poor
    13 Jul 2022
    To move from 59 infant deaths out of every 1,000 live births to no infant deaths in the matter of a few decades is an extraordinary feat.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us