The reality of “19.” Pretense is exactly what it is…artificiality and falsehood set to challenge factual reality.

People are dying. Everyday. 

TV doctors are posing as public health care specialists and then hide behind “I misspoke” when their erroneous facts and intellectual ignorance is exposed. Oz and Phil…WTF….keep your pseudo medical advice to yourself.

Confederate flags and MAGA red hats are waved and worn as people defy social distancing in righteous protests even when other folks are incarcerated in housing projects and densely populated areas that have not received the full attention of health care efforts in this pandemic.

People are dying. Everyday.

Open the economy?

Rural areas that never had enough doctors or medical facilities will be ravaged like the meat packing processing plants that will dictate what meats you buy or don’t in a few weeks.

Toilet paper not available?

Watch what happens when meat is scarce.

Some people suggest that this pandemic will change the paradigm as to how the larger society of privileged and one percenter treat the rest of us.

Revolution in America cannot be just an American colonial happenstance or simply a historical fact.

Poets as cultural workers, as progressive social justice advocates, as bearers of the truth, whether you want to hear it or not, are needed for universal balance. Remember, there were American colonists who supported being under the rule of England and “fought against” the efforts of those colonists who sought freedom from tyranny and subjugation. In the spirit of change…

Welcome, jazz poet, progressive thinker, writer, and educator

Raymond Nat Turner

Raymond Nat Turner (Photo Credit:  Debra St. John)

Chinese Disease?

He didn’t say Chinese debt,
did he?
He didn’t say Chinese pharmaceuticals,
did he?

He didn’t say Chinese phone,
did he?
He didn’t say Chinese computer,
did he?

He didn’t say Chinese pen,
did he?
He didn’t say Chinese tie,
did he?

He didn’t say Chinese martial arts
muscled men guarding his dumb body use,
did he?
He didn’t say Chinese warfare— “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu,
Referenced by ruthless generals advising his feeble mind,
did he?

He certainly didn’t say Chinese philosophy—
‘cause there’s confusion. Did Confucius say,
“Man who tweet all day have bird brain—”
Or
“Boss Tweet like man who mix Viagra and
Ex-Lax—don’t know if he’s coming or going ?”

© 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved

Previously published, Black Agenda report, 25 March 2020

* * *

Aretha Franklin, 1942-2018

Aretha Franklin, 1942-2018

“If Ever I Would Leave You–”
Her promise, implied, to never
Leave this jagged hole in my
Soul was just shredded—
Gooseflesh from her growls,
swoops, screams, leaps is
Left; but her voice belongs to the
Universe for other planets to marvel at

I don’t wanna “Say
Her Name” today, not now…
Don’t wanna hear headlines—
See scribblers, talking heads who‘
Feel your pain,’ yet tear flesh from
Black bones most weekdays

It’s not business, it’s personal—
Like losing some soundtrack
When Bro. Ray checked out—or
My two week depression when
Sass stepped off stage; But,
If, There’s A Place For us
Outside plantations,
beyond bullwhips’ call
and response
If, There’s A Place For us
above gun towers
and concertina wire, our
Ma Raineys, Bessie Smiths,
Lady Days, Ninas and
Arethas
Take us there…

So, I tip my cap and
Sing praise not to
Monarchy propped
up on a throne—on
dried blood, skulls and bone;
a rusty “Chain of Fools…”

I tip my cap and
Sing praise—Panther-style—
to my Minister of Medicine,
Servant of The People,
darling “Dr. Feelgood—”
practicing Universal Healthcare
from a Spiritual Free Clinic
In her throat

I tip my cap and
Sing praise—Grammys,
medals, honorary degrees,
halls of fame, streets bearing the
name “Aretha Franklin Way”
speak for themselves.

I tip my cap and
Sing praise—a medley—and
“Think” of telling teams
“Don’t Play That Song…”
Of being a
“Bridge Over Troubled
Water” in Flint—
Making water weaponizers
“Jump To It,” getting the lead out;
Of telling ICE kidnappers—
“Ain’t No Way…”

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner was privileged to have read at the Harriet Tubman Centennial Symposium. As artistic director of the stalwart JazzPoetry Ensemble, UpSurge!, he has appeared at numerous festivals and venues including the 2015 Berkeley Arts Festival, as well as at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and Panafest in Ghana West Africa. He performed at the 2018 Dissident Arts Festival in Brooklyn, New York and in November 2019 at Langston Hughes House also in Brooklyn. Raised in Los Angeles and currently residing in Harlem, NY, Turner is a quintessential New York City poet. He is poet-in-residence at Black Agenda Report, and a frequent contributor to Dissident Voice, and Struggle magazine. He is also a steering committee member of the New York chapter of the National Writers Union. Raymond has opened for such people as James Baldwin, People’s Advocate Cynthia McKinney, radical sportswriter Dave Zirin and California Congresswoman Barbara Lee following her lone vote against attacking Afghanistan. He performed for aaduna fundraisers in Harlem/New York City (Bill’s Place in 2014) and Auburn, New York (Cayuga Museum’s Theater Mack in 2015.) See www.upsurgejazz.com for more information on Turner. 

* * *

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