Faye Turner-Johnson

GATHER TOGETHER WHO I AM

bring together all of me
gather together who I am
bring together all of me
to survive the violence
the degradation
of a traffic STOP
thought I was safe
in my identity with you black cop with your identification of me
thought it was all good
heed that warning
use my signal
drive more carefully
be on my way
because you serve and protect in our community
how must I gather together who I am
bring together all of me
when you can beat me to death
obliterate all of me
all of who we are supposed to be
once again I have gone to the well seeking justice
but find there is nothing there for me


Faye's YouTube video reading of "Gather Together Who I Am":



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Faye confesses: "The heartbreaking video of the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols and his efforts to appease the officers to save his life prompted this poem. That was not his responsibility! It was the duty of the officers to protect him. His woeful lament, “What did I do?” replays in my head."

FAYE TURNER-JOHNSON recently self-published her first chapbook, "this Ebony Tongue," which can be found on Amazon.com. She has also been published in numerous journals, including Sky Island, Kissing Dynamite, The Raw Art Review Anthology (Winter 2020), Kissing Dynamite Lift Every Voice: An Anthology of Poetry, Rigorous, and other publications.

2020 Best of the Net Nominees

Every poem I publish at The Five-Two is a favorite of mine, so in past years I've allowed readers to vote on three of my six submissions for Sundress Publications' Best of the Net anthology.

With the COVID-19 outbreak this year and other business, I had no time to open the voting, but at yesterday's deadline, I submitted the following.

In the order they debuted during Best of the Net's July 1, 2019–June 30, 2020 eligibility period:

• "Intruders at Akumal" by Clarinda Harriss
• "Just Shoot 'Em" by Faye Turner-Johnson
• "The Ogre's Wife" by Robert Plath
• "Prom Queen" by Tom Barlow
• "Autobiography of Ursula" by Margot Douaihy
• "CA" by Ron Riekki

Thanks and good luck to all.

Rammelkamp on Faye Turner-Johnson's "Just Shoot 'Em"

For Day 5 of 30 Days of The Five-Two, my thanks to frequent contributor Charles Rammelkamp for this commentary —Gerald So

Written with incantatory power, “Just Shoot ‘Em” highlights the shame of crime and punishment in the United States in which the punishment is so often the crime, especially in the context of our national stain of racism. The repetition of the phrase, “shoot ‘em” hammers home the injustice, the inhumanity. Faye Turner-Johnson’s anger, despair and disgust are on vivid display as the poem repeats the phrase, over and over like a drum beat, brutal as a blunt object.

Turner-Johnson does not even have to mention the names – Stephon Clark, shot by police in Sacramento holding a cellphone, Walter Scott, shot down running from a policeman in Charleston, Philando Castile shot by a cop reaching for his registration in a Minnesota suburb, Botham Jean, killed by a police officer while sitting on his own couch in Dallas, Atatiana Jefferson, shot by police while playing a video game with her nephew in Fort Wayne – as she lists the litany of horrors and injustice that seem to occur daily in America, as frequently as mass shootings. We’re already too familiar with these instances of people simply “seeking justice and freedom in America.” Just shoot ‘em, shoot ‘em dead.

—Charles Rammelkamp

Faye Turner-Johnson

JUST SHOOT 'EM

shoot ‘em while they’re running
shoot ‘em while they’re reaching for registration and insurance
shoot ‘em when they’re holding a cell phone
pleading for help after an accident in the middle of the night
shoot ‘em if their tail lights are broken
shoot ‘em while they’re sitting on their own couch
eating ice cream when you thought it was your couch in your
apartment and your ice cream they were eating
shoot ‘em if they don’t signal when changing lanes
shoot ‘em if they’re at home with the door open
playing video games with a nephew
just shoot ‘em
shoot ‘em dead
shoot ‘em while living black...seeking justice and freedom in America


Faye reads "Just Shoot 'Em":



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Faye confesses: "I am deeply troubled by police officers killing unarmed black people. If officers are able to capture and arrest mass murders with assault weapons, why fear a cell phone? The murders of Botham Jean and Atatiana Jefferson have me wondering how safe it is to live in my own home?"

FAYE TURNER-JOHNSON is a graduate of UM-Flint with BA degrees in Theater and Elementary Education. Since her retirement from teaching, she has again turned her attention to theater and writing. Her desire is to direct plays and write about issues focusing on social justice, especially where it concerns brown and black people. Her work has appeared in Sky Island Journal, Whirlwind Magazine, Digital Papercut, Crack the Spine Literary Journal, and other publications. Work was also published in anthologies for Dime Show Review and Kissing Dynamite. She received an honorable mention for a poem submitted to the Rochester Writers' 2018 Summer Writing Contest.