"They have got to pick up the work ..."
āRalph Poynter
I.
When I finished poet-ing St. Peters for Lynne;
When I finished poet-ing Riverside for Glen
I received Ralph hugs. And ā¦ lived to marvel them ā¦
Ever receive a Ralph hug?
Ever receive a Ralph hug and recalibrate solidarity?
Ever receive a Ralph hug and know its not businessā
Itās personal? Ever receive a Ralph hug and gloat over
Protected species status?
Ever receive a Ralph hug and know the real meaning of
Human shield?
II.
Itās Christmas Day and The Ancestors say, āRay ā¦ we need
You to preach a poem punctuated with emeralds, rubies, and
diamondsā No Ralph hug ā¦ this time ā¦
We need you ātryin and Traneināā Town Cryin red Blues!"
III.
The Ancestors said, āSome of us celebrated Big Apple
Christmases past. Reconnected with cousins.
Listened in awe to aunts and uncles. Gave and received
Gifts with long tons of love. This Christmas we want the best!ā
The Ancestors said, "We met more than
4 corners. Conferred, discussed, debatedā
Decided: 6 decades serving The Peopleās worthy of
Promotion! Worthy of AIT: Ancestor In Training ā¦ā
The Ancestors said, "Some of you will surely screamā
as if weāve snatched a battalion!
No. Weāre gifting golden opportunities: Walk ā¦unbent in
His moccasins! Run ā¦ run ā¦ Long distances in his boots!ā
The Ancestors said, āYour Keystone State Son of a Steel-
worker lives! Lives toiling in fertile fields of your minds.
Lives sowing DNA-deep resistanceā coursing thru your
heartsā farms ā¦ā
The Ancestors said, āThe steel's hard from knowing white
Heat and hammer ā¦ The Steelworker's Son leaves looped,
His triple platinum hit. 3 word song of love. Anti-capitalist
chant. Meditation for movements: āKeep It Going!āā
The Ancestors said, āHe said, keep bouncing out of bed.
Keep striking blows at monsters burying babies beneath
busted brick/twisted rebar rubble. Monsters gunning down
doctors; bombing hospitals while howling āoperations!āā
The Ancestors said, āHe said, keep focusing floodlights
on fascists deploying dyslexic snipers reading PRESS
as TARGET! And fascists who canāt wait to make America
Grate again ā¦ basking in brutal glory of the ā50sā1850s!ā
IV.
The Ancestors said,
āRoll up your sleeve
before you leave
And get Ralph Poynter
Protracted Resistance Booster
Shotsā 6 decade-lasting Jabs!ā
āRoll up your sleeve
before you leave
And get Ralph Poynter
Postal Worker protection injectionsā
Neither rain, sleet, or snow stops you!ā
āRoll up your sleeve
before you leave
And fill Ralph Poynter
Prescriptions (Possible side effects include
Reliability; rebelliousnessāever readiness
for revolution ā¦ ā)
Ā© 2023. 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 GoFundMe and PayPal.
The new laws are part of a larger trend of conservative, right-wing efforts at the state level designed to counter the goals of social movements.
He was stunned to ascertain that Europe was less racist toward those like himself in comparison to his homeland;
The case involves the kidnapping of a diplomat by the worldās sole superpower locked in an unequal struggle to destroy the formerly prosperous, oil rich country of Venezuela.
The same activists who are working to defund the police are also part of a collective movement to bring an end to neoliberal capitalism.
āWe knowed what was goinā on in [the war] all the time,ā said Felix Haywood, dismissing the notion that his fellow Texas slaves were ignorant of the Emancipation Proclamation.
