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

Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
17 Dec 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Horace Silver
Medu Art Ensemble, Culture and Resistance Symposium and Festival of the Arts, 1982.

Harmony of a hug,
Rhythm of a rose,
Melody in the mirror

We are an army of artists
Merchants of life,
Beauty's our bomb,
Love its shrapnel…

We are an army of artists
Infantry on feet of celebration,
Toes polishing
Hardwood floors with perspiration

We are an army of artists
Brandishing sticks and brushes,
Softening up enemies with
Strokes and notes,
Partisans wielding pastels,
Oils and acrylics—
Connecting dots, hitting spots
On canvas and paper

We are an army of artists
Foreign fighters, formerly known
As Dukes, Counts, Birds and Pops—
Militant magi weaving dreams in
Azure skies, etching prayers
In mirrors with our acid tears

We are an army of artists
Asymmetrical warriors,
Mopping up murals
Gracing broken-down buildings—
Enemy combatants crying clear
Lacquer on contrabasses,
Snipers shooting sunlight into
Hearts held hostage by the 1%
Ellingtonia is our tonic…
For subdominant dreams

We are an army of artists
Dangerously unselfish,
Enemies of ignorance
Drumming to different dancers—
Staging attacks in theaters
Exploding in applause!

© 2010. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet, BAR's Poet-in-Residence, and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can vote for his work at GoFundMe and PayPal.

poetry
Art
resistance

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
JoeSam art
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
24 January 2024
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
BAR Book Forum: Jennifer S. Ponce de León’s “Another Aesthetics Is Possible”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jennifer S. Ponce de León’s “Another Aesthetics Is Possible”
07 December 2021
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation

More Stories


  • Black-Palestinian solidarity
    Hanna Eid
    Black-Palestinian Solidarity; Clearing the Fog
    28 Feb 2024
    While revolutionary Black organizations after the Panthers continued to support Palestine vocally, the realities of COINTELPRO and mass incarceration have had a profound impact on the organization…
  • Senegalese President Macky Sall
    Tanupriya Singh
    Senegalese Civil Society “remains vigilant” As Top Court Overturns Election Delay
    28 Feb 2024
    The Constitutional Council nullified a presidential decree and a law passed by parliament postponing the February 25 elections. The chief election body has ordered that elections be held “as soon as…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio February 23, 2024
    23 Feb 2024
    This week we hear about the implications of the anti-imperialist struggle in the African nation Guinea-Bissau.
  • DRC
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Colonialism, Imperialism, and Conflict in the Congo
    23 Feb 2024
    Abayomi Azikiwe joins us to discuss events in eastern Congo, the role of US backed nations such as Rwanda, and the history of exploitation and imperial control which caused the…
  • Immigrant Justice Network
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Bipartisan Consensus for Punitive Immigration Policies Continues - Part 2
    23 Feb 2024
    Aly Wane of the Immigrant Justice Network discusses immigration in the second part of a two-part interview. Punitive immigration policies are bipartisan, with groups such as Haitians being targeted…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us