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

Oz-low Piece Process v. Sugar Hill Play-date …
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
07 Aug 2024
🖨️ Print Article
Young child digging through rubble

35 lb question mark,
3 ft exclamation point,
doesn’t cringe at loud sounds or
pee his bed behind nightmares.
Camryn, my three year-old Sugar
Hill neighbor’s an “Old soul.”
I’m honored that he refers to 
me as, “My friend, Raymond.”

Camryn's mommy’s a surgeon, studying
for her boards. His granny’s a history
professor, writing another book. So, I’m
Awarded a Camryn playdate …

Camryn has every truck ever made—
and knows precisely each truck’s function.
He teaches Truck-101to anyone in earshot.

He warns work will not begin before his
bright, yellow hardhat’s jammed over jet
black curls. He buckles his tool belt low and
tight. He’s studied styles and moves of the
Working-class; has them down pat.

Camryn creates tasks for each truck, then
Schools me on how the crane on one truck works.
He doesn’t trust me with the trucks.

Blessed, he believes mommy and granny will
Protect him from scary things; feed and
Hydrate him after he plays hard; read
and sing sleepy-time lullabies, enforcing
Peaceful naps as the Sandman invades …

So, I spare Camryn Fractured Fairytales of
Ambulances twisted into burning, bloody metal
hulks; pieces of cloth, shoes, drivers and assistants.

I spare him Fractured Fairytales from Oz—
Natives driving zig-zag routes ‘round a
Frankenstein scar dissecting their homeland;
Land where his trucks would have different
Color license plates and stop at checkpoints
manned by teenaged thugs eager to cast lead!

Traveling Oz by truck, Camryn might see Caterpillars
crunching toys, houses, olive trees, crushing dreams;
He might see fools flying featherless birds shitting
shrapnel and white fire.

He might hear overloaded donkey carts squealing,
Moaning like Mothers of itty-bitty, bloody bodies
piled on them—bodies later stuffed in ice cream freezers,
to slow their rotting; bodies so shredded, even Camryn's
surgeon mommy—couldn’t put their tiny arms, legs and
Heads back together again …

I spare my friend Fractured Fairytales: crushing trucks
like his.

© 2018. 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.

Palestine
Gaza
Genocide
Children

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


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ARTICLE: “Trade in Blacks” Practiced in Haiti; Tension Among Peasants Increases,” Jacques Roumain, 1937
07 October 2026
“Between October 2 and October 8, 1937, between 15,000 and 40,000 Haitians and Black Dominicans were slaughtered by Dominican troops…
Dr. M. Reza Behnam
Three Years of Genocide: How ‘Never Again’ Lost Meaning in Gaza
07 October 2026
If international law and justice are buried in the rubble of Gaza, the global community will ultimately be digging its own grave.
Sami Al-Arian
Why Hamas believed the status quo was more dangerous than its 7 October gamble
07 October 2026
Three years into Israel's genocide in Gaza, the consequences of a decision driven by siege, settlement expansion, and assaults on Al-Aqsa are s
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Defending a Non-Existent International Law
30 September 2026
The Hague Group’s goal is to “. . .
Roberta Rivolta
Western Activism and the Axis of Resistance
23 September 2026
Western pro-Palestinian activism isolates Palestine from its regional allies, depoliticizing its struggle and reinforcing colonial
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Guardian Foray: All That's Not Real Is Camouflage
09 September 2026
An Open Letter from the American "Left" allegedly on behalf of unnamed persons said to be Iranian political prisoners has provided co
Libertad para Fergie
Free Fergie Chambers: Solidarity Is Not a Crime
09 September 2026
Fergie Chambers is an American philanthropist who was arrested on July 10 in Ibiza, Spain, by order of the Trump Administration.
Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
AISC Red Paper #2: The Multiple Fronts of Iranian Anti-Imperialism
26 August 2026
The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) offers an analysis of the Ramadan War and the multiple fronts of Iranian anti- imperi
Ramzy Baroud
Solidarity Is Not Enough
19 August 2026
Why the world must force accountability on Gaza now.
Natalia Junquera , Elena Reina
Fergie Chambers, the Millionaire Activist Arrested in Ibiza: “I am a human rights advocate”
19 August 2026
The American's lawyers, led by Baltasar Garzón, denounce a "political persecution" by Trump for his support of Palestine.

More Stories


  • Twitter Surveillance Startup Targets Communities of Color for Cops
    Sam Biddle
    Twitter Surveillance Startup Targets Communities of Color for Cops
    28 Oct 2020
    Insiders say Dataminr’s “algorithmic” Twitter search involves human staffers perpetuating confirmation biases, searching specific neighborhoods, streets, and even housing complexes for crime.
  • Capitalism Made Women Of Color More Vulnerable To The COVID Recession
    Tithi Bhattachary
    Capitalism Made Women Of Color More Vulnerable To The COVID Recession
    28 Oct 2020
    Black women and Latinas have performed the bulk of the essential work during lockdown and borne the brunt of the recession.
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week October 26, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week October 26, 2020
    27 Oct 2020
    The Rich Will Use Crisis to Further Immiserate Workers
  •  Towards a “De-White Supremification of Amerikkka”
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford , Lydia McCaskill
    Towards a “De-White Supremification of Amerikkka”
    26 Oct 2020
    Lydia McCaskill, a masters and doctoral student at North Carolina Central University and activist firebrand in her hometown of Gastonia, proposes a process of “de-white supremifica
  •  Malcolm X was a Black Internationalist
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford , Desmond Fonseca
    Malcolm X was a Black Internationalist
    26 Oct 2020
    Especially in the latter years of his life, Malcolm X represented “a reemergence of Black radicalism” after the suppression of the McCarthy period, said Desmond Fonseca, a PhD cand
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us