2nd Amend Meant

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

26 Apr 2023

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WLRN.org (Photo: Christian K. Lee)

2nd Amend Meant

“…shotgun—shoot ‘em for he run now!”

—Junior Walker

I.

Redlined, ‘white’ enclave. Un-ceded Hopewell,

Kansa, Mississippi, Missouri, Osage, Otos tribal

Land. Receiving settler soundbites of misinformation,

disinformation, 1/2 truth, big lies attached to Fox-box

IV—the prisoner trembles fearfully in padded cell of

‘Whiteness.’

Maybe he fears ghosts of gunpowder done real

estate Deals?

Maybe his MAGA-mind hears dispossessed people

pleading with him and cracker comfort tribe STOP

the chop—the so-called “tomahawk chop”—‘whites’

Insist on doing at Kansas City “Chiefs” football

games?

II.

Post-Bacon Rebellion—

2nd Amend Meant—

Every man, woman, child, cutthroat, killer,

sadist, torturer, overseer—slaver-wannabe

Infected with ‘whiteness’ could STOP you.

Question you about where you’re going…

About where you’ve been. Plantation/reservation

you’re coming from? Going to? Supposed to be on?

Blunderbuss, flintlock, musket, revolver trained on

temples—‘Whiteness’ questioned!

Questioned how dark skins got there. When they

got there. What was in their pockets? Never

questioning what makes ‘whiteness’ fear for…

sacrosanct Safety?

2nd Amend Meant—

Every man, woman, child, cutthroat, killer,

sadist, torturer, overseer-slaver wannabe

Infected with ‘whiteness’ could STOP you.

Detain you! Arrest you! Flog you! Lynch you—

come up with cruel, creative ways to crucify

or castrate you!

2nd Amend Meant—

They could cooly flex index fingers should you

Flinch!

Object!

Make eye contact! Speak when not spoken to!

Breathe when you’re not permitted to breathe!

III.

Black at wrong address, the boy was there

to pick twin brothers up. He picked up two

Bullets instead.

Had his lithe, young, gifted

Chocolate, promise-filled, bass clarinet-playing

body perforated

He knocked for an answer regarding the twins.

.32 caliber

questions tore through glass, ripped in

to his furrowed brow like a hot pin ball:

Do Black Lives really Matter? If so, how

much?

The ball bounced into a neighbor’s yard

and drew gunfire. The car turned into a

driveway and drew gunfire. The woman

approached a wrong car and drew gunfire.

Volleys of shots are 2nd Amend Meant for:

“How may I help you?”

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe and PayPal.

Gun violence

Second Amendment

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