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

Avotcja’s Love…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
22 Mar 2023
🖨️ Print Article
Avotcja’s Love…

                                                                     

                                                                                            Avotcja’s Love…

                                                                      “…Your love…means everything to me…”  

                                                                     —Charles Wright, Watts 103rd Street Band

 

Used to fret, whine, twist worry beads

outta shape. Used to pout like a 6th grader

starting pre-school. Used to burden my

Wife-to-be with questions concealing

statements. And statements concealing

Questions: “I don’t think Avotcja likes me…”

Used to be bothered by unceremoniously

curt, gruff, brusque, businesslike behavior.

“The seasoned Sister’s in a New York state

of mind—she’ll be over it in a New York

Minute…” Asserted my NYC Wife-to-be…

Fast forwarding a few million minutes—I

Love the way Avotcja starts spreadin’ the

Blues-infused news…Slipping, sliding—

smoothly—Spanish to Spanglish to English

and back again—Bouncing it off walls and

elephant ears of satellite dishes

picking up maternal music frequency words…

Love her electric-throned—Super Shero—

defiant/reliant; No quit grit! Out organizing, out

Working, out fighting—Out

Loving our temporarily-abled…tired asses…

Once heard her weaponized words put a pimp

across her knee—spank his ass…Make him ask,

“Mother, may I…get outta the game…get a gig

Driving Ms Daisy? Ms Mary? Ms Matty? Any

Senior sisters needin’ to shop—get to the bank—

See the doctor?!”

Fast forwarding a few million minutes—I

Love hearing “Papi Was a Dancing Man”

of crackling, triumphant, Presto-log love—

Warmth for entering from frost… Warm shower,

Wool blanket, hot apple cider, home-cooked meal

Love

Love making arrows make u-turns

midair

Love making embarrassed bullets drop

to streets in supplication and apology…

And, yes, I’m grateful she calls me her

“Brother from another Mother—” And

has Papi-love left… for sharing with me…

© 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.

Music

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
SONNY
27 May 2026
Our wise Monk-guru, White winter mane and Douglass beard,Sonny's anOak tree growing outSugar Hill concrete—
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
ESSAY: In Our Hands: Thoughts on Black Music, Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1976
31 July 2024
For the late Dr.
For Larry Roland
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
For Larry Roland
08 March 2023
                                         
A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…
27 April 2022
Donald Smith always performe
Photo: Kevin W. Thorbourne
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)
08 September 2021
Bird, strings, Big Chief: 100: Harlem (For Charlie Parker/Donald Harrison/Harlem Symphony Orchestra)  

More Stories


  • Gary Wilson
    Palestinians Reject U.S.–Backed U.N. Plan: ‘A new form of occupation’
    19 Nov 2025
    The so-called 'peace plan' resolution passed by the UN Security Council is nothing more than a newly branded occupation and the Palestinian people are rejecting it.
  • Carly Brook , Orinoco Tribune
    Activists Mobilize Across the US to Demand ‘Hands Off Venezuela,’ Venezuela Thanks for Protest Outside White House
    19 Nov 2025
    While the White House plots further intervention, nationwide mobilizations are sending a powerful message of solidarity to Venezuela.
  • Cira Pascual Marquina
    Grenada, Venezuela and the Logic of Empire: A Conversation with Chester Humphrey
    19 Nov 2025
    A veteran Grenadian revolutionary explains the situation of Venezuela today, condemns the US build-up, and offers his advice and solidarity.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio November 14, 2025
    14 Nov 2025
    In this week’s segment, we hear about an international tribunal for Palestine, which will document and render a ruling on evidence of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. We also examine the…
  • Venezuela
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Week of Action in Solidarity with Venezuela
    14 Nov 2025
    The U.S. regime change effort against Venezuela has recently intensified with the killings of Venezuelans, Trinidadians, and Colombians said to be drug traffickers, the latest salvo in the long U.S.…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us