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

Buzzed In By Lewis
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
01 Feb 2018
🖨️ Print Article

5 in the morning, ‘The Lewis Sawyer Experience’
early morning Boys Club in Papa Sawyer’s Cave:
My lick for Lewis, “Lewis Sawyer, is my lawyer—”
his classic chuckle-comeback, “Well, you’re in bad shape then!”
Poets and last words, “Well, David McBurney is my attorney…”
But Lewis was a bullhorn, shouting names of our Political Prisoners,
Prisoners Of War, languishing forgotten in gulags across imprisoned
nation. He put 59,000 watts beneath their wings,without fanfare—
While reminding us: we’re just in Minimum Security…

Being buzzed in to the Mother Ship by Lewis
felt safe, welcome—presence appreciated—in
Good hands, a trillion times more reliable than Allstate
Lewis was the first face I’d see at the station—
unerring source for five-star information

Warmth was his uniform; his smile his badge,
reflecting respect back like a mirror from the
Mountaintop: all the authority a badass Angel,
sweet scientist, who could handle ‘situations…’
Required; I emerged from ‘Lewis Sawyer Experiences’
with double shot expresso optimism

A modest, minimalist, Monk life-stylist—
Count Basie of Kindness—
Not a whole lot of notes there
but his voicings sung and swung;
Duke Ellington of Passion:
Things he loved, he loved madly—
speaking of love—Lewis was LOVE
Not a mushy, gushy, sentimental bubblegum LOVE
But, an I believe in you, when no one else believes LOVE
I honor your light, anything I can do to amplify it LOVE
As you stand on stage, I’ll sit in the audience LOVE
Anything you need early in the morning LOVE
Release your worry beads, I got your back LOVE
Harness your hardships, “too big to fail” LOVE

Let’s suppose that place
preachers speak of Sundays
Exists; suppose I make the cut—
I bet Lewis will be there buzzing me in… Lewis Sawyer:
Presente!

poetry

More Stories


  • Recognized Movement
    Open letter to President Abinader: We call for compliance with the Constitution and an end to denationalization and racial discrimination
    09 Oct 2024
    September marked eleven years since the Dominican Republic passed the law that revoked the citizenship of millions of Dominican people with Haitian heritage. The government still maintains that the…
  • Joel Mukisa
    The problem is systemic: understanding the #OccupyParliament movement in Kenya
    09 Oct 2024
    Reflecting on the mass protests that recently shook Kenyan society from top to bottom, Joel Mukisa argues that we must go much further than a choiceless democracy to find answers. A systematic…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio October 4, 2024
    04 Oct 2024
    A Haitian politician's amusing moment at the United Nations obscures continued interference from the US and the UN. But first, we hear analysis of US and Israeli actions that have sparked the…
  • Sky over Israel as missiles fall
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Israel and the U.S. Escalate War in Western Asia
    04 Oct 2024
    Dr. Gerald Horne joins us from Houston to analyze the situation in West Asia one year after the Al Aqsa Flood - the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Israel's pager attack in Lebanon and …
  • Edgar Leblanc
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Haitian "Leaders" are U.S. Puppets
    04 Oct 2024
    Dahoud Andre provides analysis on Edgar Leblanc, President of the Council of the Transition of the Republic of Haiti, and the recent events at the U.N.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us