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

Buzzed In By Lewis
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
01 Feb 2018
🖨️ Print Article

5 in the morning, ‘The Lewis Sawyer Experience’
early morning Boys Club in Papa Sawyer’s Cave:
My lick for Lewis, “Lewis Sawyer, is my lawyer—”
his classic chuckle-comeback, “Well, you’re in bad shape then!”
Poets and last words, “Well, David McBurney is my attorney…”
But Lewis was a bullhorn, shouting names of our Political Prisoners,
Prisoners Of War, languishing forgotten in gulags across imprisoned
nation. He put 59,000 watts beneath their wings,without fanfare—
While reminding us: we’re just in Minimum Security…

Being buzzed in to the Mother Ship by Lewis
felt safe, welcome—presence appreciated—in
Good hands, a trillion times more reliable than Allstate
Lewis was the first face I’d see at the station—
unerring source for five-star information

Warmth was his uniform; his smile his badge,
reflecting respect back like a mirror from the
Mountaintop: all the authority a badass Angel,
sweet scientist, who could handle ‘situations…’
Required; I emerged from ‘Lewis Sawyer Experiences’
with double shot expresso optimism

A modest, minimalist, Monk life-stylist—
Count Basie of Kindness—
Not a whole lot of notes there
but his voicings sung and swung;
Duke Ellington of Passion:
Things he loved, he loved madly—
speaking of love—Lewis was LOVE
Not a mushy, gushy, sentimental bubblegum LOVE
But, an I believe in you, when no one else believes LOVE
I honor your light, anything I can do to amplify it LOVE
As you stand on stage, I’ll sit in the audience LOVE
Anything you need early in the morning LOVE
Release your worry beads, I got your back LOVE
Harness your hardships, “too big to fail” LOVE

Let’s suppose that place
preachers speak of Sundays
Exists; suppose I make the cut—
I bet Lewis will be there buzzing me in… Lewis Sawyer:
Presente!

poetry

More Stories


  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Killing the Kennedy Center softly for the Reich?
    30 Jul 2025
    "Killing the Kennedy Center softly for the Reich?" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Dr.Wilmer J. Leon, III
    Palestinians are Not Starving in Gaza. They are Being Starved!
    30 Jul 2025
    The Israeli government isn’t failing to feed Palestinians in Gaza. They are deliberately starving them. Starvation is their weapon.
  • Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    Exporting Repression: Haitians And Kenyans Are Both Fighting Neo-Colonial Representatives of U.S.-Led Imperialism
    30 Jul 2025
    The U.S. exports repression like a global franchise, outsourcing violence while claiming benevolent intent. Kenyan police, trained by American forces and armed with U.S. equipment, are now occupying…
  • B’Tselem
    Our Genocide
    30 Jul 2025
    B’Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, makes clear that a genocide is taking place in Gaza. But their observations are not in any way unique. Millions…
  • Isaac Saney
    Who Is the Failed State? Cuba, Revolutionary Ethics, and the Moral Bankruptcy of Western Capitalism
    30 Jul 2025
    The Cuban revolution endures despite more than 60 years of U.S. attacks. One system exploits the people, while the other prioritizes their needs. Which nation deserves the label of "failed’?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us