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

Poem For Zigi
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
05 Jul 2017
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

This week's offering from BAR's poet in residence was also published this week at Dissident Voice.

 

Poem For Zigi

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

“…the greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return…”
‘Nature Boy’ by Eden Ahbez

Jet black gondola
2017-07-05 11:54:34 -0400glides across the resting lake
to Bata drumming dock,
African ritual;
Double rainbow of
Family and friends,
Connect like braided bread,
Waiting to share coconut,
white chocolate, lemon zest treat—
Our seven hour chat
“covering everything
from Ellington to
Engels…” earned Us…

Steamed tears stream on
Bent notes of
“The Nearness of You”
Blue glass explodes beneath
my white shoe;
Rich in Bandmates,

“…the greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return…”
‘Nature Boy’ by Eden Ahbez

Jet black gondola
glides across the resting lake
to Bata drumming dock,
African ritual;
Double rainbow of
Family and friends,
Connect like braided bread,
Waiting to share coconut,
white chocolate, lemon zest treat—
Our seven hour chat
“covering everything
from Ellington to
Engels…” earned Us…

Steamed tears stream on
Bent notes of
“The Nearness of You”
Blue glass explodes beneath
my white shoe;
Rich in Bandmates,
Best Man Son, Daughter,
Sistars; Ancestors bear
bouquets emblazoned,
“Mazel Tov!”
and crowd gold chuppah—
more beautiful than perfect

Reaching into Van Gogh
skies—plucking the
left-handed, curly-topped
Angel I’d asked for,
For a trek across
the heavens; After
decades daydreaming,
decades longing
for my Soulmate—a
Brother caught a break—
Flourishing in her
Galaxy of Love

’Twas Fathers Day too—
Papi growled, per usual,
“Take care of each other…”
Champagne whispering—
“Don’t fuck it up,”
Shooing us off to Tour Eiffel…

Best Man Son, Daughter,
Sistars; Ancestors bear
bouquets emblazoned,
“Mazel Tov!”
and crowd gold chuppah—
more beautiful than perfect

Reaching into Van Gogh
skies—plucking the
left-handed, curly-topped
Angel I’d asked for,
For a trek across
the heavens; After
decades daydreaming,
decades longing
for my Soulmate—a
Brother caught a break—
Flourishing in her
Galaxy of Love

’Twas Fathers Day too—
Papi growled, per usual,
“Take care of each other…”
Champagne whispering—
“Don’t fuck it up,”
Shooing us off to Tour Eiffel…

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


More Stories


  • Man in a field wearing a keffiyah holding a Palestinian flag
    Black Alliance For Peace
    The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the Murderous Assault on Occupied Palestine
    10 Oct 2023
    The Black Alliance for Peace released a statement in solidarity with the people of Gaza and all Palestinians under occupation in the racist, apartheid settler state of Israel.
  • Léopold Sédar Senghor
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: West Africa in Evolution, Léopold Sédar Senghor, 1961
    10 Oct 2023
    The current political turbulence in France’s former colonies in Africa can perhaps be understood as the continuation of an unfinished project of decolonization.
  • Laphonza Butler swearing in
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Laphonza Butler’s Liberal Dem Credentials All But Glow in the Dark
    10 Oct 2023
    No one better exemplifies the Democratic Party’s overarching identity politics than California Governor Gavin Newsom.
  • People marching at a protest in Haiti
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The United Nations Pushes Haiti Under the Bus
    10 Oct 2023
    For the tenth time in the last 30 years, the United Nations vote to authorize an occupation of Haiti.
  • Ralph Nader
    Jacqueline Luqman
    Of Course Ralph Nader Can Say He Prefers Autocracy To Fascism: He's Not The Target Of Either
    09 Oct 2023
    Millions of people voted for Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader in 2000 but now he has denounced them and himself by proclaiming his support for Joe Biden’s re-election.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us