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

When I Grow Up…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Jan 2024
🖨️ Print Article
Ralph Poynter
Ralph Poynter speaking at a rally for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

When I Grow Up…

When I grow up I
wanna be bear hugs
and hundred watt smiles
for family, comrades and friends—
Easy to figure
out: Come correct—
Or, not at all

When I grow up I
wanna be like the
Keystone State son of
a steel worker,
in major—music theory—
Teaching poly-rhythmic
Resistance and asking:
“How do you keep the music playing,
How do you make it last???”

When I grow up I
wanna be like the
Quaker State son of
a steel worker,
in major—allowing
Resistance and the
Organizer in 
his DNA to 
Lead the way, saying
Names of Political 
Prisoners, Prisoners of War…

When I grow up I
wanna be like the 
Warrior jousting 
windmills in front of the
War House. Picketing
for the Love of his
Life—rain, sleet, snow—
Or sauna. Showing,
Not telling, the rulers,
“Let my Peoples’ Lawyer go!” 
Ain’t that lovin’ you, baby?

When I grow up I
wanna be like the cat
not above crashing 
in airports, to
Visit his Valentine
shackled to the 17th century—
Deep in the heart of
a Texas torture chamber

When I grow up I
wanna be a spirit
singing,“Lonely teardrops,
My pillow’s never dry…
Lonely teardrops, come
Ho-oh-oh-oh-Om…”

When I grow up I
wanna be like the knight
in whose eyes glint
Her name writ red in flames…

Poet’s note: Inspired by the life of Ralph Poynter …
 

© 2017. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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: GoFundMeand PayPal.

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


More Stories


  • Can We Listen to the Voice of the Haitian People?
    Mireille Fanon Mendes France
    Can We Listen to the Voice of the Haitian People?
    17 Mar 2021
    The West’s treatment of Haiti confirms that white supremacy has still not abandoned its plan to impose a racially racist, violent, capitalist and imperial world order.
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 15, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 15, 2021
    15 Mar 2021
    Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It
  • Europe and US Now Policing Black Migrants in Africa
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Europe and US Now Policing Black Migrants in Africa
    15 Mar 2021
    To justify US and European military occupation of much of Africa, migrants seeking jobs in the north of the continent or in Europe “are labeled as criminals and terrorists” when they are “just look
  •  Black Is Back Coalition Partners Praise 19-Point Self-Determination Agenda
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Is Back Coalition Partners Praise 19-Point Self-Determination Agenda
    15 Mar 2021
    At a webinar last week, Jericho Movement chairperson Jihad Abdulmumit said the Black Is Back Coalition’s National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination “covers everything,
  •  Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It
    15 Mar 2021
    Community control of police advocates in the Washington, DC region say their approach is the best -- and most democratic – way to achieve both defunding and total abolition of policing as it exists
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us