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

2/4 Dance Don’t Cut It
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Jan 2018
🖨️ Print Article
2/4 Dance Don’t Cut It
2/4 Dance Don’t Cut It

“Pay, or die…” the Death
Sentence Big Pharma-
Insurance Mob just issued
a neighbor; and a Frankenfood
experiment’s irritating my gut

The water smells swampy some days,
like bleach others; Tents grow in night
air like multi-colored mushrooms—crazy
cancer cells; Another school’s shuttered,
its teachers scattered in the wind, like
pencil sharpener shavings—Money for
Bombs, not for books—Wow, the wars
went from seven to nine this week…

Here they come again with Fear:
‘Freedom of Choice,’ binary bad
or worse options—hiking uphill
barefoot, in elephant excrement,
donkey dung to take one—with or
without Vaseline—from the1% again

I’m not sure I have another 8 yrs
for translating, deciphering slogans:
“Regime…change you can believe in!”
“Yes, we can…and bottle Jim Jones Juice!”
as silly spoils of celebrity-worship;
Isn’t it time for Adult Politics?

Isn’t it time to abandon Infantile
Exercises—searching for saviors
Every 2 to 4 yrs—and Nominate
Meeting More Than Four Corners;
Donate to Door-To-Door; Phone Bank
for Boycott; Campaign for Consciousness;
Support Shoe Leather-Street Heat running for
Raising roofs, planting food, curing cancer?

poetry

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


More Stories


  • “December Revolution’s rebirth”: Sit-ins Mark New Stage of Protests Against Sudan’s Military Junta
    Pavan Kulkarni
    “December Revolution’s rebirth”: Sit-ins Mark New Stage of Protests Against Sudan’s Military Junta
    20 Jul 2022
    In the aftermath of the violent repression of protesters on June 30, sit-ins have been organized in various parts of Sudan even as the military junta tries to consolidate power.
  • The American Empire Has No Clothes
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The American Empire Has No Clothes
    20 Jul 2022
    The U.S. is empire is in a state of crisis, creating chaos around the world and contradicting its own goals.
  • The PAIGC’s Political Education for Liberation in Guinea-Bissau, 1963–74 (Part 1)
    The Tricontinental
    The PAIGC’s Political Education for Liberation in Guinea-Bissau, 1963–74 (Part 1)
    20 Jul 2022
    Liberation struggles are not fought only on the battlefield. The African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) left a legacy of educational decolonization.
  • Congresswoman Karen Bass and the Will to Intervene
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Congresswoman Karen Bass and the Will to Intervene
    20 Jul 2022
    Congresswoman Karen Bass is running for mayor of Los Angeles. She's also Vice Chair of the NED, the CIA's soft power arm. She epitomizes everythng that is wrong with the Black political class.
  • Black Agenda Radio July 15, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 15, 2022
    15 Jul 2022
    The 55th anniversary of the Newark, New Jersey rebellion, how the child welfare system damages Black children and families, and how the United Nations creates suffering in Haiti.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us