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

CORONATION
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
16 Jan 2013
🖨️ Print Article

 

by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner

“In what stilettos will they Electric Slide

On thin ice, above fiscal cliffs of foreclosure,

Joblessness and poverty?”

 

CORONATION

by BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner

 

2006

Mayday, a million militant Mexicans

Strapped on wings and flew

Over the City of Angels, scaring

To death, rich devils ruining it;

 

2010

A December Night In Tunisia,

Burst into Be-Bop regime change

Flames, masses heard and jammed

To in Egypt, North Africa, the world over...

 

2011

A quarter million militant

Wisconsinites caught Spring

Fever flowing from North Africa,

Experienced seizures of capitol, town,

Imaginations, conversations—even

General strike plans—forward…

 

2011

Mindful gangs of youth occupied

Wall Street, hearts, minds, dreams and

Talk of the town for two months, metastasizing

Like crazy cancer cells, clear across the country…

 

2012

Ephemeral, proletarian internationalist moment,

Tens of millions of anti-austerity activists, workers,

Students and supporters, downed tools, seized

Streets and shut down Europe for a day...

 

These tiny tremors continually reminding US,

That like scorching magma, class struggle

Bubbles, just beneath business as usual...

 

2013

A million miles from reality...Cloud Nine Negroz

See what they wanna see in 1600 Pennsylvania

Avenue, Psychedelic Shack where big Negroz go

Under COINTELPRO; a Psy-Op where lil' Negroz

Have their fortunes told, and chase after fool's gold:

Solidarity with a Wall Street-vetted, Madison Avenue

Messiah, bequeathed by J. Edgar after Medgar,

Malcolm and Martin were shot for inconvenient truths

 

Nothin' but a Democratic party in Cloud Nine Negroz

Psychedelic Shack, belting, "Don't Worry, Be Happy!"

"Extraordinary Rendition's" 'bout when Motown dropped

"Grapevine" on Gladys & Marvin # 1, the same year, & “Black

Sites" are spots where you can go and get your groove on..

 

In Cloud Nine Negroz Psychedelic Shack, their mountain top,

Disco ball and all, debate orbits around burning questions of

Sub-contracts, franchises and what dare they wear to their king's

 

CORONATION:

In what furs, with what flag sizes, or

Lapel pins, will they be seen, on TV?

 

In what clown suits and silly hats

Will they Happy Dance for Hell-

Fire Missiles on family farmers?

 

In what stilettos will they Electric Slide

On thin ice, above fiscal cliffs of foreclosure,

Joblessness and poverty?

 

What will they wear for their Fuhrer?

Will they mimic his corporate coat

Of many logos, his crown of five

Hundred jewels for Fortune 500

Companies—same thugs peddling guns,

Wars and gang-raping Mother Africa?

 

Will they come wearing coltan

For their king, or just show up

Looking like lewd lieutenants,

Lap-dancing, licking his boots,

Complicit in his bombing and

Burning babies in Afghanistan,

Pakistan, Yemen,Libya and Gaza?

 

Will they come dressed as jackals, with

Tuesday kill lists of "haters" in hand?

 

Maybe they'll dress down in vintage

War crimes and crimes against humanity,

Like deputies in the dock at Nuremberg?

 

Surely they'll accessorize in South

African gold, diamonds and platinum

Set luxuriously in Steven Biko's bones?

 

Perhaps they'll anoint themselves and

Their king in Ogoniland oil, expertly

Blended with blood of Ken Saro-Wiwa?

 

Should their Messiah suggest suicide

Vests, bet on a bunch of busy tailors...

 

Nude, or prancing like peacocks, fully

Festooned, they'll arrive in five, feting

Their emperor, making a mockery of

Militant tradition birthing Ben Davis,

Du Bois, Ida B., Hubert Harrison and

Fanny Lou Hamer in the crucible of

 

Class struggle…

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at Raymond (at) upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner (c) 2012 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Vincent Brown’s “Tacky’s Revolt”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Vincent Brown’s “Tacky’s Revolt”
    27 May 2020
    The Jamaican slave revolt of 1760-1761 was one war within an interlinked network of other wars.
  • BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here" 
    Rhondda Robinson Thomas
    BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s "No Mercy Here" 
    27 May 2020
    In white patriarchy-ruled South Carolina at the turn of the 20th century, manhood sometimes created temporary yet tenuous bonds between Black and white men.
  • Haiti’s Revolutions and Revisions: An Interview with Charles Forsdick and Christian Høgsbjerg
    The Public Archive
    Haiti’s Revolutions and Revisions: An Interview with Charles Forsdick and Christian Høgsbjerg
    27 May 2020
    Toussaint stressed that freedom was something that had to be fought for and taken from below by the masses themselves.  ​​​​​​​
  • The Spy Plane Over Baltimore is a Tool of Voter Suppression
    Barbara Arnwine, Curtis Cooper and Adjoa A. Aiyetoro
    The Spy Plane Over Baltimore is a Tool of Voter Suppression
    27 May 2020
    The eye-in-the-sky tells residents of the majority Black city that they are enemies of the state -- to be watched and, ultimately, crushed.
  • Once Dead, Thrice Killed
    Rohn Kenyatta
    Once Dead, Thrice Killed
    27 May 2020
    The summary execution of my brothers, sisters, women, men and children is so commonplace that it becomes numbing ‘white’ noise in the minds of an entire continent.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us