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Malcolm X Tic-Tac-Toe in the Age of…Austerity?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 May 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by Raymond Nat Turner

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer

 

Malcolm X Tic-Tac-Toe in the Age of…Austerity?

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

Vertical, diagonal, horizontal moves

Of Malcolm X, martyr, giant, live on

Like simple grid, paper and pencil games

Of Noughts and Crosses, 3-in-a-row—

Tic-Tac-Toe in the age of… Austerity

 

X, like exciting, expanding, extending,

X, like exalting, exemplary, example,

Excelling, exceeding— revolutionary as

Exponential, unlimited—far as you dare!

 

O, as in hollow, phony, posture, nothing!

O as diversion, like COINTELPRO, Psy-

Op or false consciousness like blue-collar

Workers masquerading as middle-class!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

Africom boots on the Congo

Banksters bagging big dough

Mother Africa their hoe

A peculiar quid pro quo

Slaves cheering status quo

Their beer full of GMO—

Madison Avenue mojo!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

Negroz go pianissimo

Fiery X’s blocked by O,

Rich white house Negro,

Attorney Generalissimo

Super of Guantanamo

Teachers rise against O

Working-class Tic-Tac-Toe!

 

3-in-a-row, X versus O

Tic-Tac-Toe, X versus O

Shrewd black buck dancer

O a cancer— X an answer!

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2013 All Rights Reserved

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