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

For My Friend Keasley (Autumn and E-Crew, 25/22)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
15 Sep 2021
🖨️ Print Article
For My Friend Keasley (Autumn and E-Crew, 25/22)
For My Friend Keasley (Autumn and E-Crew, 25/22)

For My Friend Keasley

(Autumn and E-Crew, 25/22)

I.

In my mind—and sometimes

sub-vocally—I say his name 

almost every day.

You see, I call my wallet, “Wally 

Gator;” my keys, “Keasley Jones.”

I don’t leave home without them—

A memory trick for remembering

things essential.

II.

Moist morning air burns off into a mild

Mediterranean climate; quiet confidence;

soft spoken humility; Artist’s sensitivity…

and walks in Modesty’s moccasins, Compassion’s

cape, Humility’s tights—and does good deeds sans 

Fanfare.

Call him Keasley Jones. Go-to-guy for all things

Science. Suave wiseguy with Whole Earth solution 

catalogue. The dude I consulted when fantasizing

Nature ventures.

Hands on superhero masquerading as under-

achiever; Sipping Stanford, Odwalla and other 

Brands—before mergers and acquisitions. Be-

fore hitting his Pit Pony Hey-

day. Before managing as Swiss Army Knife of 

publishing!

I remember him lending his height, helping

hang photos, posters and shadowboxes on

virgin Freight & Salvage walls: Celebrating 

20 years of UpSurge!

I remember unanticipated appearances at

Gigs—sage smile, bent down, semi-squat hug;

I remember messages 2 weeks before his

Death asking if I still needed dental work—

I remember his generous response…Flagged

“For poetry and dental work.”

III.

I beg my ‘white’ people—my Euros—forget a-

bout being like Mike, Oprah—or even John 

Brown.

Walk in Keasley’s moccasins a minute— 

now and then, here and there…Try

Reinventing yourselves as woke *Prison Radio

Mensches—Assistant Saints like him! Refuse

to turn blind eyes of sand-buried heads away 

from concertina wired walls of concentration

camps; guard-towered gulags—violent hellholes 

of endless torture… 

Paddle in Keasley’s kayak a minute— 

now and then, here and there… Try

Scouting downstream hungry, unhoused, hurricane-

ravaged peoples having less than you can imagine…

IV.

November 6, 2019 I wrote on Facebook:

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Keasley Jones, and

best wishes for many, many, many MORE…"

Then I perused his LinkedIn titles and skills and

noticed the one not listed that I’m most missing:

Friend… 

 

*Besides serving as Prison Radio’s Publishing Consultant and Office Manager for several years, Keasley was also part of the Peachpit Press/Addison-Wesley team that published Mumia Abu Jamal’s 1995 book, Live From Death Row.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, 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: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Prison Radio

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


More Stories


  • James Baldwin Still Matters and Eddie Glaude’s Book on Him Doesn’t
    Anthony Monteiro
    James Baldwin Still Matters and Eddie Glaude’s Book on Him Doesn’t
    26 Aug 2020
    Glaude has done a great injustice to Baldwin, turning the great Black writer and thinker into a mere liberal burned out by trauma and a sense of his fragility.
  • For my Postal Worker Brothers and Sisters
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    For my Postal Worker Brothers and Sisters
    26 Aug 2020
    “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom  of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” --Herodotus
  • Chicago is Dystopian Police State of Racial Oppression and Class Rule
    Paul Street
    Chicago is Dystopian Police State of Racial Oppression and Class Rule
    26 Aug 2020
    While her cops bust heads and kettle protesters, Chicago’s Black mayor Lori Lightfoot works behind the scenes with Trump’s “Operation Legend” agents to crack down on the inner city.
  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Choudhry  Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    26 Aug 2020
    This week you discussed the Biden-Harris ticket and the country’s political prisoners.
  • BAR Book Forum: Liat Ben-Moshe’s “Decarcerating Disability”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Liat Ben-Moshe’s “Decarcerating Disability”
    26 Aug 2020
    Disability studies looks at disability as an identity and culture and not as a deficit to be corrected.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us