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
  • omnibus

Oh, what a night…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
21 Dec 2016

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Our poet shares a scene from a late nite NYC subway ride home from this years' holiday party of the National Writers Union.

Oh, what a night…

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

“Oh, what a night…”

Red letters emblazoning big white cake

“Workers of the WORD, Unite!”

150 small, cloth flags hanging

from the ceiling, above our food,

Representing places, spaces

Working-class brothers and sisters gather

Breaking bread, sipping wine, gulping water…

Making memories, visualizing peace—better lives—

Not children’s, grandchildren’s broken, bloody bodies…

“Oh, what a night…”

Our NWU holiday party

Wild women of the WORD—

Friendships of fifty years

Talking “class struggle”, “socialism”

A woman, UAW leader, pops in

Announcing victory:

Research and Teaching Assistants

Won unionization at Columbia!

“Oh, what a night…”

Six bottles of sparking cider lighter,

On the A Train, heading

Home to Harlem in a hurry

Brothers behind me loud talkin’—

Not dissin’ or arguing—more like preachin’

To the choir

Brother One’s shouting ‘bout Cuba’s

schools and literacy compared to here.

Brother Two’s chimin’ in ‘bout the Bay of Pigs,

Allen Dulles, killing of Kennedy— just before

Brother Three jumps to billionaire appointees

Only in New York!

“Oh, what a night…”

Never mind three delays

between 34th and 125th

Couldn’t take it any longer—

Got up, got some of that WORD:

“Is this ‘The Friendship Train’

Listen to us—woop-woop—…doin’ our thing?

Y’all scaring me and folks up front with

that revolutionary foolishness!”

Smiling eyes, belly laugh betrayed me—but

Crescendo “Oooh!” response to my call:

“Hell, folks been asleep 8 years!”

Plus, pregnant pause, birthed this poem

Granting you permission to: pimp-slap, kick

fear-mongers to the curb; they squander

Seeds of struggle, rays of resistance… Listen to

Lil’ David’s lesson: Goliath’s gotta bring ass to kick ass…

Poet’s Note:

NWU is National Writers Union

UAW is United Auto Workers

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    Independence for Whom? Peruvian People Reject Neocolonial Boluarte Coup Regime
    13 Aug 2025
    Two centuries after independence, Peru remains shackled by empire. As the U.S.-backed Boluarte regime tightens its grip, the people take to the streets, demanding sovereignty, justice, and the return…
  • ELAPRE
    There is no Revolution Without Revolutionary Consciousness
    13 Aug 2025
    Revolution requires more than violence—it demands collective awakening. Haiti’s crisis exposes the danger of hollow slogans masquerading as liberation.
  • Youssef Fares
    Survivors of Aid Massacres: Israel Is Eroding Gaza’s Social Fabric
    13 Aug 2025
    As the world condemns indiscriminate bombing, Israel continues to commit genocide by social erosion. The systematic dismantling of Gaza's social foundations through massacres at aid lines,…
  • Alan MacLeod
    The CIA Built Hundreds of Covert Websites. Here’s What They Were Hiding
    13 Aug 2025
    As governments worldwide crack down on "foreign disinformation", America’s most powerful intelligence agency has been caught running the largest known network of fake media outlets.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 8, 2025
    08 Aug 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss a protest exposing corporate media’s collusion with the U.S. and Israeli governments in reporting genocide and how ICE is violating the law and human rights with…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us