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

3 Little Words (For 2 EGs)
03 Jan 2018
🖨️ Print Article
3 Little Words (For 2 EGs)
3 Little Words (For 2 EGs), a poem by Raymond Nat Turner

One to three
three on one
Life hanging
on tatted arms
of a windpipe-
crushing Nazi thug
3 little words
12 letters
11 times
Not artful air escaping
sides of a saxophonist’s mouth

Song For Her Father—
Fire-breathing, bullhorn
Blues shouter; Drum major
Marching, meeting, texting, tweeting,
writing: raising roofs of consciousness;
Standing up, sitting-in,
Dying-in, boycotting, blockading,
Refusing rest; chasing the fugitive:
‘Justice’

One to three
three on one
Not a broken bicycle pump
or blacksmith’s bellows—
3 little words
12 letters
11 times
Not Codetalker
father to daughter

Membership in the club
Wanting no new members—
club never giving her
space, to catch her breath—
know how it feels to
Breathe free…
instead of crying herself to
sleep listening for footsteps of
‘Justice’

One to three
three on one—
Heart attack
asthma
cancer
coma
Her carryons boarding
Nonstops, tearing her heart
into a thousand tender shards…
3 little words
12 letters
11 times
Codetalker daughter to father:
Please put politicians “thoughts and prayers”
out with promises and dirty diapers…

All rights reserved 2018, Raymond Nat Turner.

Our poet in residence, Raymond Nat Turner is an accalimed performing artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation
Think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Think…
06 January 2021
Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers, 

More Stories


  • Edward Rhymes
    What Changes For Palestine?
    21 Oct 2026
    Disregard for Palestinian rights is a feature of Israeli politics rather than a bug. The upcoming Knesset election will change nothing for Palestinians, because every candidate across the political…
  • Orinoco Tribune
    Colombia’s First National Strike Against De la Espriella Met With Police Crackdown
    21 Oct 2026
    Thousands of people took to the streets across Colombia on Wednesday in the first national strike against President Abelardo de la Espriella’s administration, as police used tear gas, rubber bullets…
  • Issa G Shivji
    Positioning Pan-Africanism In The Geopolitical Turmoil
    21 Oct 2026
    As we are experiencing a world order in disorder, with war and conflagrations and a shifting balance of power, Issa Shivji calls for a Sovereign Pan-African Project. The analyses recap the…
  • BAR Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Report October 16, 2026
    16 Oct 2026
    In this week’s segment, we see through supposed disagreements between the US and Canada and recognize their partnership in settler colonialism, enslavement, and imperialism. But we begin with a…
  • M23
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Congo's Elite Struggle for Power While Imperialist Control and Violence Decimate the Country
    16 Oct 2026
    Joseph Kabila, former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, named himself president of the Front for the Rebuilding of the Nation. He is now formally allied with M23, the Rwanda-backed…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us