by Raymond Nat Turner
“In our marching shoes, yes, we can
Discover trails less traveled
Connecting us with sage spirits
Sampling James Brown with John
Brown”
If The Shoe Fits...
by Raymond Nat Turner
Shoe leather was once
Voting's egg, blood, its sperm...
Shoe's on the other foot, now
So, to vote, or not to vote
Is not the question---the
Commander even chided and
Derided us: Swap "bedroom
Slippers" for "marching shoes"
In our marching shoes, yes, we can
Click our heels like children
Catching burnt orange and ebony
Butterflies filled with freedom to fly
In our marching shoes, yes, we can
Conjure comets and name them
"Rebellion," "Underground," "Utopian,"
"Civil," "Survival" and celestial bodies coming...
In our marching shoes, yes, we can
Scale the Shangri-la where
Seventy-five year olds march like
Twenty-five year olds and
Twenty-five year olds orate like
Seventy-five year olds,shoulder
To shoulder striking, sitting-in,
Picketing, teaching and taking
Care of one another on filaments
Of shoestring budgets...
In our marching shoes, yes, we can
Discover trails less traveled
Connecting us with sage spirits
Sampling James Brown with John
Brown, disturbing the universe, questioning
Everything about a corrupt, rotten pyramid
Scheme stitched together with tear gas,
Bullets, bombs and LIES...
In our marching shoes, blisters and all,
We're the ones we've been waiting for---
Cast Prada, Nike, Reebok ballots
At bought and bossed footmen!
Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com.
(c) 2012 All rights Reserved
"STICKUP: MORE for the GREEDY; less for the needy!!" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
The threats by the Trump administration to detain migrants in Guantanamo Bay will not be the first time the United States has used the facility for migrant detention. Not too long ago,…
United States intelligence agencies kept close watch over developments in the African American struggle for freedom, justice, equality and self-determination after the conclusion of the Second…
Western nations are fueling the atrocities Rwanda is inflicting on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite the unrelenting aggression, the Congolese people are resisting. International solidarity…
"When people show you who they are, believe them" remains true when we examine the sorry state of the U.S. political arena. Both major political parties have made clear their priorities - and those…
