2nd Amend Meant

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

26 Apr 2023

WLRN.org (Photo: Christian K. Lee)

2nd Amend Meant

“…shotgun—shoot ‘em for he run now!”

—Junior Walker

I.
Redlined, ‘white’ enclave. Un-ceded Hopewell,
Kansa, Mississippi, Missouri, Osage, Otos tribal
Land. Receiving settler soundbites of misinformation,
disinformation, 1/2 truth, big lies attached to Fox-box
IV—the prisoner trembles fearfully in padded cell of
‘Whiteness.’

Maybe he fears ghosts of gunpowder done real
estate Deals?
Maybe his MAGA-mind hears dispossessed people
pleading with him and cracker comfort tribe STOP
the chop—the so-called “tomahawk chop”—‘whites’
Insist on doing at Kansas City “Chiefs” football
games?

II.
Post-Bacon Rebellion—
2nd Amend Meant—
Every man, woman, child, cutthroat, killer,
sadist, torturer, overseer—slaver-wannabe
Infected with ‘whiteness’ could STOP you.
Question you about where you’re going…
About where you’ve been. Plantation/reservation
you’re coming from? Going to? Supposed to be on?

Blunderbuss, flintlock, musket, revolver trained on
temples—‘Whiteness’ questioned!
Questioned how dark skins got there. When they
got there. What was in their pockets? Never
questioning what makes ‘whiteness’ fear for…
sacrosanct Safety?

2nd Amend Meant—
Every man, woman, child, cutthroat, killer,
sadist, torturer, overseer-slaver wannabe
Infected with ‘whiteness’ could STOP you.
Detain you! Arrest you! Flog you! Lynch you—
come up with cruel, creative ways to crucify
or castrate you!
2nd Amend Meant—
They could cooly flex index fingers should you
Flinch!
Object!
Make eye contact! Speak when not spoken to!
Breathe when you’re not permitted to breathe!

III.
Black at wrong address, the boy was there
to pick twin brothers up. He picked up two
Bullets instead.
Had his lithe, young, gifted
Chocolate, promise-filled, bass clarinet-playing
body perforated

He knocked for an answer regarding the twins.
.32 caliber
questions tore through glass, ripped in
to his furrowed brow like a hot pin ball:
Do Black Lives really Matter? If so, how
much?

The ball bounced into a neighbor’s yard
and drew gunfire. The car turned into a
driveway and drew gunfire. The woman
approached a wrong car and drew gunfire.
Volleys of shots are 2nd Amend Meant for:
“How may I help you?”

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.

Gun violence

Second Amendment

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