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

Deja vu—Step 1 and Step 2? 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
02 Sep 2020
Deja vu—Step 1 and Step 2? 
Deja vu—Step 1 and Step 2? 

Is this Deja Vu—
Step1 and Step 2?
The long, long lines breaking with
12 years of Reaganite reaction in 
’92 
Slick Willy’s $campaign—his sax-
ophone; his shades: his “1st black
President” sticht? 

Is this Deja Vu—
Step1 and Step 2
Negroz Happy Dancing on ice— 
not once—but twice?
Frozen acrobats dangling 
Dangerously
from the Drone Ranger’s warhead,
while “Holding his feet to the fire?”
Drunken empire bums sprawled
outside the War House, high on High 
Fructose Corn Syrup slogans: “Yes, we 
Can and Bottle Jim Jones Juice for 
Regime change You can believe in?”

Is this Deja Vu—
Step1 and Step 2
Ringling Brothers of rhetoric sprinkling 
goober dust in black cat dander—and
chanting sesquipedalian mumbo jumbo—
Moving Hellfire Missiles and Kill Lists left?
Is this another Negro sing along to get along
song, “If I Had A Son” he’d look like_____(fill
in the blank) washing it down with Po-Po Beer
in the Rogue Garden, while juggling 7 wars and
Deporting two million?

Is this Deja Vu—
Step1 and Step 2 
with Ol’ blakkk Schmo 
and Lady Blue—or do we
Finally, finally want MORE—
or will we wait until… 2054?

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

 

A bad trip…

“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s lethal.”  — Paul Coelho

Would you take a road
trip every four years 
cross country in car
smoking and burning
Oil? 
A car with a leaking
radiator; bald tires; no
jack; worn shocks, and
bad brakes?

Would you take a road
trip every four years 
cross country in a car
with a panhandle shaped
Crack
in its windshield? A car with
worn out windshield wipers;
busted headlights; burned out
taillights, and no turn signals?

Would you take a road
trip every four years 
cross country in a car 
with no heater or air conditioner; a car
with an AM radio with only one station?
A musty, uncomfortable car registered to 
Two, old, half-blind, belligerent, uninsured
drunk drivers;
Armed to the teeth, arguing over who will
…drive?

© 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

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise I
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
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
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of r
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
 
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.
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?

More Stories


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    UN Group of Experts on DRC Report, June 2025
    09 Jul 2025
    The UN Group of Experts on DRC reports the obvious, that Rwandan President Paul Kagame intends to annex DRC’s Kivu Provinces.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Collaborators Like Al Sharpton Can’t Assist Zohran Mamdani with Circumventing Pigmentation Politics and the Black Misleadership Class…But Principled Black Radical Organizing Can
    09 Jul 2025
    Zohran Mamdani’s victory rattled NYC’s political elite. But to win Black voters and defeat the Democrat machine, he must reject Al Sharpton’s co-optation and align with radical Black organizers.
  • Jon Jeter
    From Cadillac-Driving Welfare Queens to Xbox-Playing Slackers, the Oligarchs Vilify Others for Their Own Larceny
    09 Jul 2025
    America’s ruling class keeps inventing new boogeymen to disguise its endless war on workers, while wealth flows upward and capitalism’s collapse accelerates.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Mali Collins’ Book, “Scrap Theory”
    09 Jul 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Mali Collins. Collins is Assistant Professor of African American and African…
  • Hanna Eid
    Hell is Empty and the Devils Are All Here: AI and Imperialism in the Current Crisis
    09 Jul 2025
    AI is imperialism's newest weapon, automating genocide in Gaza while building a surveillance state domestically.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us