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

Slick Willy and the sandwiches
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
18 Sep 2019
🖨️ Print Article
Slick Willy and the sandwiches
Slick Willy and the sandwiches

Slick Willy swears he 
only took four flights
and gorged himself on
peanut butter and jelly 
Sandwiches—take off to 
landing…

Slick Willy says he flew
for the sandwiches—the 
sandwiches roused him—
Got him out of the house.
The sandwiches showed
him just how much he 
needed to 
Fly—breathe rarified air—
33,000 feet up in the wild
blue yonder, and clear his 
Head…bird of paradise had
the best peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches in the hemi-
sphere, if not the world! Slick 
Willy’s sandwicheswere served 
on white bread with crunchy 
Skippy’s, and Smuckers grape jelly, 
Always.
The green tea too was great—its
young, tender leaves, electric color
and robust flavor…but the sandwiches
rocked!

Slick Willy said the sandwiches
reminded him of simpler, innocent
times—Mickey Mouse Club, Mouseketeer
ears, cold war, drop drills after Hiroshima
and Nagasaki; and niggers knew their place—
black lives mattered: if the Sheriff said so…
He’s so sorry so many of our people are be-
hind bars—but someone had tobring super 
predators to heel,and be tough on crime…

Slick Willy said the sandwiches were worth
all the TSA (Theater Security Actors) screening, 
searching, patting him down—strike that!
That’s not his recollection. He did say the
sandwiches reminded him of how far he’d 
Come—white trash to First Black President—
Remember the saxophone and shades?
Fast foodto Foundation—Beltway outsider to
Viceroy of Haiti and Secret Service detail to 
Ditch

Slick Willy said he only flew four times—
As for manifests, memory refreshing flight
logs, etc.…Well, maybe he flew four x four +
four times—give or take a few? Hey, what’s
with all the hair-splitting?

Slick Willy said he recalls—
to the best of his recollection—
He recalls Tattoo shouting, “De plane, de plane!”
and correcting him harshly with the back of his 
hand,“Nah, nah, lil silly muthafucka—
it’s the sandwiches, the sandwiches!”

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Neoliberals

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


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Graylan Hagler: Capitulation Masquerading as Political Thought
30 April 2025
Liberals continue to condemn anyone who didn’t support Kamala Harris and the latest iteration of neo-liberal treachery.

More Stories


  • Ramzy Baroud
    Why Didn’t Iran Put Gaza on the Table? A Difficult Answer
    03 Jun 2026
    From Gaza to Tehran, from the politics of resistance to the limits of regional diplomacy, a pressing question has resurfaced amid the 2026 war: why was Palestine not explicitly placed at the center…
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 29, 2026
    29 May 2026
    In this week’s segment, we talk about the latest iterations of immigration enforcement and their connections to racist public policy, mass incarceration, and the settler colonial foundations of the…
  • Malcolm X and Fidel Castro
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Solidarity and the Cuban Revolution
    29 May 2026
    Our guest is Dr. Rosemari Mealy. She is the author of "Fidel and Malcolm: Memories of a Meeting," which analyzes the significance of the 1960 meeting between Fidel Castro and Malcolm X. She has lived…
  • Delaney Hall
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Racism, Mass Incarceration, Settler Colonialism and Immigration Enforcement
    29 May 2026
    The Trump administration is accelerating policies meant not just to deport undocumented people, but to restrict every avenue of legal immigration from the Global South. Abraham Paulos is Deputy…
  • Ajamu Baraka
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , José Luis Granados Ceja , Kurt Hackbarth
    'The people who most love the game won't be able to go': Ajamu Baraka on Resistance to the World Cup
    27 May 2026
    In this episode of El Taller, hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth sit down with Ajamu Baraka, national organizer and spokesperson for the Black Alliance for Peace, a former vice-…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us