by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Some artists write poems and novels. Others paint and perform. Some build imaginary worlds you can immerse and lose yourself in. Some bring messages from the future, prophesying, fortelling the fates of this one. Our poet recalls one of these...
Ra Was Right
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
like a flaming guitar
sprinkled with lighter fluid,
four alarm fires roar
through Dark Ages on
synthesizers,
saxophones, trumpets,
pianos, drums, basses—
bari on bottom of
Interstellar swing—
Bebop blessings of
High Priests of Black Music
Time’s one dimensional
flying forward—
Fly Me To The Moon
let me loiter in the
Universe beyond
historical blips:
Above smoke stacks
spewing mushroom clouds;
Above wingtip-wearing
idiots poisoning our planet’s water;
Above primitive
Tomahawk missiles,
‘Apache’ and ‘Blackhawk’
helicopters and drones;
Above true believers
babbling ‘bout ‘our democracy;’
Above multibillionaire
media disguised as ‘mainstream;’
Above 37% ‘approval’ ratings;
Above an orange meteorite
un-humbled by the stars!
Fly Me To The Moon
with a connecting
flight to Saturn—
Recalibrating
my mind ‘round icy rings,
low-riding unknown
regions, horizons—
Finding formulations,
Equations, for overthrowing
gray-suited, star-spangled
lapel pin patriots—
True believers in
Yes, we can—
Yes, we can and
Bottle Jim Jones Juice
and deliver regime
Change you can believe in…
They said Ra was out—
way, way too far out:
Now, out is in, and
In is out—and the
cosmos is cool,
Saturn’s home—
“Space is the place!”
Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.
This week’s featured author is Last Moyo. Moyo lectures in the Department of Communications and Multimedia Design at the American University, Nigeria. His book is The Decolonial Turn in Media Studies…
This week’s featured author is Karen Jaime. Jaime is Assistant Professor of Performing and Media Arts and Latina/o Studies at Cornell University. Jaime’s book is The Queer Nuyorican: Racialized…
Ghana has initiated talks with the International Monetary Fund to seek a potential bailout amid a major economic crisis. This has been rejected by the Socialist Movement of Ghana and trade unions who…
US police departments spend tens of millions of dollars every year to manipulate the news, flooding the discourse with “copaganda.” These aggressive tactics give the public a distorted view of what…
Behind rolling power cuts loom deep-seated socioeconomic issues worsened by the rich countries of the world.
