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

A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
27 Apr 2022
🖨️ Print Article
A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…
Donald Smith at @ Muhu Future Music Festival JUU JÄÄB 2010 (Photo: Youtube)

Donald Smith always performed at Black Agenda Report events in New York City. He was a great musician and friend to the Black Agenda Report team. He will be missed.

                                                                          A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…

Humble Harlem musicmaster

strolled softly bearing gifts

Fingers fluent in 88 languages.

Those who know—KNOW—Virgo

flow of piano prodigy.Know The Big

Bend of great gospel genes from way

Down Where the South Begins

Humble Harlem music master

strolled softly as the morning sun-

rise. Through 5 decades of Cat calls for

playing Great Black Music outside tiny

boxes: BebopDoowopHiphop…

Sing/sang some‘Starlight & You’ like

a Nat King Cole kinda Cat

Humble Harlem music master,

strolled softly—until Now Is The Time for

Illuminating scintillating Cosmic Echoes—

vapor trails…Shadows of Saturn out where

Ra’s running rings ‘round the rest and best

from Showman’s, St. Nick’s, Benta’s in the

key of greatness… You will be welcomed!!!

Humble Harlem music master,

strolled softly…Farewell dear friend/neighbor.

Miss Sugar Hill stoop extended conversations—

Miss catching up before or after your Texas Star

stop

Who will answer my questions? Who will offer

guidance—share an obligatory Bu story or stories

of other legends infusing your legacy?



© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.



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   PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

African American Culture
Music
Harlem
Donald Smith

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


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
LYRICS: Bicentennial Blues, Gil Scott-Heron, 1976
01 July 2026
“George Washington/Slave-owner general/Ironic that the father of this country/
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.
JoeSam art
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
24 January 2024
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
50 Years Later, Is There Anything Left Of Hip Hop?
Jason England
50 Years Later, Is There Anything Left Of Hip Hop?
06 September 2023
Nothing is sacred under capitalism.
Hip Hop: A Global Lingua Franca for the Dispossessed
Jon Jeter
Hip Hop: A Global Lingua Franca for the Dispossessed
06 September 2023
Any celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop must reference its worldwide political appeal.
Avotcja’s Love…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Avotcja’s Love…
22 March 2023
                                         
For Larry Roland
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
For Larry Roland
08 March 2023
                                         
BAR Book Forum: Boukary Sawadogo’s Book, “Africans in Harlem”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Boukary Sawadogo’s Book, “Africans in Harlem”
24 August 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
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


  • Many would-be migrants, like the Garifuna, would love nothing more than to stay in their homes. It’s Washington that’s making it difficult.
    Miriam Miranda
    Afro-Indigenous People in Honduras Are Being Forcibly Displaced. Washington Is Complicit.
    13 Oct 2021
    Many would-be migrants, like the Garifuna, would love nothing more than to stay in their homes. It’s Washington that’s making it difficult.
  • STATEMENT: Black Caucus Protest at the African Studies Association, Montreal, October, 1969
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    STATEMENT: Black Caucus Protest at the African Studies Association, Montreal, October, 1969
    13 Oct 2021
    Black challenges to white control of African Studies at the 1969 African Studies Association meeting in Montreal exposed the deeply entrenched racism within, and the imperialist leanings of, th
  • U.S. Imperialism in Africa with Abayomi Azikiwe
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    U.S. Imperialism in Africa with Abayomi Azikiwe
    13 Oct 2021
    Abayomi Azikiwe of Pan-African News Wire joined Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley to discuss AFRICOM and U.S./NATO imperialist actions on the African continent.
  • San Francisco Court’s Racist Denial of the Constitutional Right to a Speedy Trial
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    San Francisco Court’s Racist Denial of the Constitutional Right to a Speedy Trial
    13 Oct 2021
    San Francisco Public Defender Manohar Raju spoke to Ann Garrison about why his office is suing San Francisco Superior Court for denying hundreds of Black and Brown people the speedy trial right
  • BAR Book Forum: Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin’s “Anarchism and the Black Revolution”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin’s “Anarchism and the Black Revolution”
    13 Oct 2021
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us