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

What makes you hopeful? (For Kris and KT)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
26 Jan 2022
🖨️ Print Article
What makes you hopeful? (For Kris and KT)

                                                                                                               What makes you hopeful?

                                                                                                                     (For Kris and KT)

                                                                                                         ”…I hope someday you’ll join us.

                                                                                                           And the world will live as one.”

                                                                                                                     —John Lennon

There are times she asks me, “What gives you hope?”

I say, “Ain’t The Audacity of Dope—“

Ol’ Schmo, Slick Willy or The Drone Ranger

It’s random acts of kindness from a stranger

It’s Farmers Markets, Co-Ops and mutual aid

It’s those first crayon drawings my children made!

It’s couples taking care of each other

It’s a professor teaching his grandmother

It’s the bad saxophonist who can sing—

It’s the hot Jazz group that can playground swing

It’s a young drummer who’s living his dream…

It’s John Coltrane blowing A Love Supreme!

It’s the cozy, sable, zippered sweater

It’s brilliant teachers making me better

It’s red flags flying from a church steeple—

It’s gangstas woke—now serving the people!

It’s school children walking out in protest

It’s freedom fighters who risk arrest…

It’s an addict living clean and sober

It’s Ferguson’s thru-line to Strike-tober

It’s speeches of Malcolm and Dr. King

It’s George Floyd Summer thawing Arab Spring…

It’s my ‘rabbi’ dying—then coming back

It’s waking up this morning—proud and Black

It’s fifteen minutes of flame once a week—

It’s Tryin’/Tranein’ for my Wikileak!

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, 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: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

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


More Stories


  • Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    BAP Condemns U.S. Plans for Yet Another UN Military Occupation of Haiti
    11 Sep 2024
    We urge people of conscience around the world to stop another United Nations invasion of Haiti.
  • Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Israelis – Not Muslims – Cheered in Jersey City on 9/11
    11 Sep 2024
    In debunking Donald Trump’s big lie about Jersey City Muslims celebrating the destruction of the World Trade Center, the corporate media have told an even bigger lie of omission. There was, indeed,…
  • Hands off Uhuru
    Uhuru 3 Free Speech Trial of the Century; Week One reveals the government has nothing!
    11 Sep 2024
    The first week of the Uhuru trial has come to a close. Already, the U.S. has demonstrated the weakness of its case, revealing that it is nothing more than a sham intended to set a precedent…
  • Jesús Chucho García , Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    AfroDescendientes En Acción 7 Aug '24
    11 Sep 2024
    While the far-right attacks in Venezuela backed by imperialist forces may have died down, the threat the opposition poses still is very present. Despite this, Venezuelan people will continue to push…
  • Carrie Zaremba
    U.S. Universities Spent the Summer Strategizing to Suppress Student Activism. Here is their Plan.
    11 Sep 2024
    Schools across the U.S. have altered policies and even landscapes in an attempt to make a repeat of last spring’s Palestine protests impossible. The result is a far-reaching war on free expression…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us