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For Robert Knight, Chokwe Lumumba, Amiri Baraka, Louis Reyes Rivera and others known and less known
by Raymond Nat Turner
When our Knights are captured
Or fall on battlefields, as they
Surely must, and we lose their
Brilliant light and we are
Scrambling to pry pens,
Swords, spears, bread and
Roses from stainless steel
Grips of their icy hands –
Scrambling to hoist our
Fallen banners, temporarily
Mired in mud and blood,
Even higher, scrambling
To staunch rivulets of
Brine from our sweetly
Shattered hearts …
When our giants – in
All sizes – go down,
Our spines straighten
Honoring, immortalizing,
Their legends, burnished
Names, by divvying up
Cosmic, ancient work
Creating them in the
Beginning …
Raymond Nat Turner © 2014 All Rights Reserved. He can be reached at upsurgejazz@gmail.com.
