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


  • Summit of the Americas: US Policy of Exclusion Undermines its Own Hegemonic Aspirations
    Frederick Mills and William Camacaro
    Summit of the Americas: US Policy of Exclusion Undermines its Own Hegemonic Aspirations
    24 May 2022
    The U.S. decision to exclude Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from the upcoming Summit of the Americas confirms that the old Monroe Doctrine is alive and well in Washington. But these efforts inevitably…
  • International Political Actors Condemn Mounting Violence in Colombia's Presidential Election
    Sara Sirota
    International Political Actors Condemn Mounting Violence in Colombia's Presidential Election
    24 May 2022
    Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez Mina’s left-wing ticket could upend Colombia’s conservative status quo. But both leaders face repeated death threats.
  • Black Agenda Radio May 20, 2022
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 20, 2022
    20 May 2022
    Defending Julian Assange, publication of the late Glen Ford's "The Black Agenda," and NYPD killing of Rameek Smith.
  • Defending Julian Assange
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Defending Julian Assange
    20 May 2022
    Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo is the author of No Fear: A Whistleblower’s Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA. She is president of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition and one of the…
  • The Black Agenda
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Black Agenda
    20 May 2022
    Alyson Jones and her mother Janet Jones operate Source Booksellers, a bookstore located in Detroit, Michigan. Alyson Jones invited Executive Editor Margaret Kimberley to discuss The Black Agenda, a…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us