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
  • omnibus

1st 100 Days— Portland  
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
16 Sep 2020
1st 100 Days— Portland 
1st 100 Days— Portland 

I have a friend—some-
time bandmate—Daily…
Whining, wringing his hands.
Distressed and depressed—
anxious and agitated—he
Knows nuclear war and
Armageddon are on the
agenda if Boss Tweet’s
Back—big lies, gas-lighting
another four years…

My meditation 
and its compassion
keep me from screaming,
“Come on out of that
cannabis cloud, read 
writing on other walls—
smell some sub rosa
burgeoning of black

lives—smell the Resistance!”

Instead, I celebrate long stem red roses stretching
Seattle, City of Angels, Tha Town, Minneapolis,
Kenosha, Atlanta, Louisville, Baltimore, Ferguson—
Chicago-Red State teachers’ strikes to The City of Roses!

Instead, I celebrate The City of Roses—
Red roses metastasizing in teargas;
Red roses blooming beneath baton blows—
springing up on Solidarity Street, opening
behind Walls of Moms
Red roses kidnapped in camouflaged fertilizer—
blooming behind walls of ICE; flowering in fascism:
foul compost of a wilting, shriveling empire…
Red roses exploding in FOX-box foot-soldiers’ faces—
silencing lying lawyers;
Red roses burgeoning in blood of John Browns:
Red roses entangled in blue-violent pigmented
thorns—blue symbolizing mystery: How thorns
are being Overcome…

© 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com  .

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at [email protected]

poetry

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


Related Stories

Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
15 July 2021
Could the pigment of your imagination cause Black magic mascots, props, sops— Black faces in high places—
A known known…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A known known…
08 July 2021
“…there are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
01 July 2021
“History repeats itself,  first as tragedy, second as farce.” —Karl Marx
The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
23 June 2021
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs…” —Karl Marx
The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
16 June 2021
“Ain’t no power like the power of the people— ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop!” bouncing 
Ladee Blu: Another Monroe Doctrine delivery system 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Ladee Blu: Another Monroe Doctrine delivery system 
09 June 2021
Raytheon’s craven raven Co-signing for mass murder: “Mowing the grass…” Now… Ladee Blu on a fool’s errand dis-
MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
02 June 2021
The Mass Shooting Of The Day— this time was in San Jose… Do you know the way to San Jose?
Raymond Nat Turner , BAR poet-in-residence
Preachin’ to the Choir (for Joe, Linda, Tim…)
26 May 2021
2020’s hindsight—frost in the rearview mirror. Miles Ahead… I’m Sheltered in Solidarity with National Poetry Month and
Herd impunity?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Herd impunity?
19 May 2021
What if a colonial settler state accidentally vaccinated 61% of its population With a virulent variant of a vicious virus?

More Stories


  • Attack Against Haiti’s De Facto Prime Minister on Independence Day (+Core Group)
    José Manuel Blanco Diaz
    Attack Against Haiti’s De Facto Prime Minister on Independence Day (+Core Group)
    04 Jan 2022
    The Core Group chose Ariel Henry as the de-factor president of Haiti, in defiance of the people's wishes. But a conflict among factions makes his position insecure and resulted in a recent assa
  • MLK Day at Camp Lemonnier, US Army
    T.J. Coles
    Using and Abusing Djibouti: How the US Transformed a Tiny African state Into a Hub of Imperial Aggression
    04 Jan 2022
    From Djibouti, the US trains proxies and bombs strategically-important countries in the name of democracy and counterterrorism.
  • Why We Must Defend Julian Assange
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Why We Must Defend Julian Assange
    14 Dec 2021
    Julian Assange is one of the political prisoners that the US claims not to have.
  • Essay: Lynch Law in America, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, 1900
    Black Agenda Review
    Essay: Lynch Law in America, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, 1900
    14 Dec 2021
    Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s “Lynch Law in America” remains a compelling account of white violence as both savage and systemic, and of the US as irredeemable.
  • On the Fundamental Differences Between Capitalist “Democracy” and Socialist Democracy
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    On the Fundamental Differences Between Capitalist “Democracy” and Socialist Democracy
    14 Dec 2021
    The United States recent democracy summit would have been laughable if its implications were not so serious.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us