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


  • Canada, Ukraine, and Nazi Connections
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Canada, Ukraine, and Nazi Connections
    29 Sep 2023
    In this week’s Black Agenda Report Margaret Kimberley wrote about Canadian and Ukrainian Nazi connections after a former member of a Ukrainian SS unit was honored in Canada's…
  • Abortion Services Under Attack After 47 Years of the Hyde Amendment
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Abortion Services Under Attack After 47 Years of the Hyde Amendment
    29 Sep 2023
    Shayla Walker is Executive Director of Our Justice, an abortion fund and advocacy group which provides direct financial and logistical support for people seeking abortion care.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Canada, Ukraine, and Nazis
    27 Sep 2023
    The Canadian government turned what should have been an ordinary photo opportunity with Ukraine's president into a political debacle when a Ukrainian Nazi collaborator was honored in parliament…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EDITORIAL: Haiti Had Its Sandino, Jean Lamonthe, 1929
    27 Sep 2023
    Remembering Haitian resistance “Caco” fighter Charlemagne Peralte, demonized by the  U.S. occupation forces as a “bandit,” the same label given to Nicaraguan freedom fighter, Augusto Sandino.
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Menendez Bribery Scandal: Egypt versus Ethiopia
    27 Sep 2023
    Why did Menendez ignore Egypt’s human rights record and attack Ethiopia’s?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us