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

SONNY
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
27 May 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Sonny Rollins
Poem by Raymond Nat Turner

Our wise Monk-guru, 
White winter mane and 
Douglass beard,
Sonny's an
Oak tree growing out
Sugar Hill concrete—
Colossus reaching, 
Stretching out into 
Open Van Gogh sky...
Stairway To The Stars 
Sage alchemist, blowing 
Brass tears from his tone
Into sweet sunbeams,
Reflecting Freedom Suite
Swagger, greeting Tubman years

His winter's more
Vital to peace people—
Humble, calloused, sweaty tribes—

Than great spring and summer
Bean stalking, Bird watching 
Gruff stuff, monkey bar cage,
Mirror, Brownie Points 
Bridge to Ashram karma
Yoga arc sterling character puzzle...

My 70s Sonny story:
One Hollywood night, 
Harold Vick and Sonny 
Locked up like Ali and
Frazier in Shelly's Manhole— 
"Thrilla in Manila,"
Jazz giants grappling
Like elephants
Rumbling in the jungle,
Tenor trunks roaring
Chorus after chorus after chorus...
Then, Miles-to-Trane-like... the 
Winner... Sonny, took 
The horn out his mouth:
"I don't have any more"
To shouts "More!" "More!"
Oak tree growing out
Sugar Hill concrete— 
Colossus reaching, 
Stretching out into 
Open Van Gogh sky—

Forty years later...

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.

Jazz
Music
Art
Memorial
Sonny Rollins

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
ESSAY: In Our Hands: Thoughts on Black Music, Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1976
31 July 2024
For the late Dr.
Joan Gibbs
Matt Tracy
Joan Gibbs, Renowned Lesbian Activist and Attorney, Dies at 71
10 April 2024
Joan Gibbs, long time civil rights attorney and activist, is remembered for her deep commitment to her community and for so
Ralph Poynter
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
For Ralph
20 March 2024
"They have got to pick up the work ..." 
Lorraine Hansberry
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
SPEECH: A Challenge to Artists, Lorraine Hansberry, 1962
21 February 2024
At a rally against the House Un-American Activities Committee, insurgent playwright Lorrainne Hansberry called on artists to shake off the fear
JoeSam art
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
24 January 2024
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
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
                                         
A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A lil’ homegoing homage to Brother Donald…
27 April 2022
Donald Smith always performe
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


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Against Nuclear Imperialism, Kwame Nkrumah, 1960
    01 Apr 2026
    “We are not freeing ourselves from centuries of imperialism and colonialism only to be maimed and destroyed by nuclear weapons.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Rwanda’s 30-Year Assault on Congo: The Crimes, the Criminals, and the Cover-up
    01 Apr 2026
    Rwanda’s 30-year Assault on the Democratic Republic of Congo, a new 80-page title from Baraka Books, gets straight to the essentials.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    STOP Cruel Reich Cult (CRC) from reinventing the wheel
    01 Apr 2026
    "STOP Cruel Reich Cult (CRC) from reinventing the wheel" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Zophia Edwards’ Book, “Fueling Development”
    01 Apr 2026
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Zophia Edwards. Edwards is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins…
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The Empire Has No Clothes: US Imperialism and the Hubris of White “Supremacy” Ideology
    01 Apr 2026
    Completely stripped of its democratic veneer, U.S. imperialism has been exposed as a system of monopoly capitalism driven by white supremacist psychopathology.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us