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

Gunmen
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Apr 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Stephon Clark's grandmother
Stephon Clark's grandmother

Hm, March 18th… my Mother’s birthday… I
heard lead bees stung the young man’s
Back, severed vertebrae, collapsed his lung,
left his arm bits of bone…on a ruby red river

Tear droughts betray me, though
Another Mother’s son was stolen—not
“Lost.” Though he didn’t “pass away”
on Disney sets of sci-fi
Where pigs fly
in firing squad formations,
under color of law, as
Gunmen—rerun-men:
Raising right hooves, testi-lying
about muted body-cams and
Special effects, puffing up Black men
as Hulk; Transmuting them into Black
Magic stunt men, simultaneously running
Away and Moonwalking “toward officers—”
Superman metallurgists, sorcerers turning
Wallets, candy bars, car keys, phones into guns…

The Town Crier, Raymond Nat Turner © 2018 All Rights Reserved

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com

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

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
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
 
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.
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
Think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Think…
06 January 2021
Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers, 

More Stories


  • Roe v. Wade and American Politics
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Roe v. Wade and American Politics
    06 May 2022
    Pascal Robert is co-host of the This is Revolution podcast. He is also a long-time contributor to Black Agenda Report as well as to Newsweek. He joins us from Miami, Florida to discuss the recent…
  • Racist Immigration Policy in the UK
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Racist Immigration Policy in the UK
    06 May 2022
    Glenroy Watson is a Pan-African trade unionist who is Secretary of the Global Afrikan Congress, UK Chapter. He joins us to discuss the continuation of Hostile Environment immigration policies in the…
  • Workers' Struggle in Haiti
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Workers' Struggle in Haiti
    06 May 2022
    Dahoud Andre is a member of KOMOKODA, the Community to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti, and host of Eritye Papa Desalin, the Heirs of Jean Jacques Dessalines, a daily Haitian community radio…
  • Censorship and the War on Black America
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    Censorship and the War on Black America
    05 May 2022
    Erica Caines, Editor of Hood Communist and Coordinating Committee Member for the Black Alliance for Peace, joins the stream to discuss the New McCarthyism and its implications.
  • The Poor Peoples Campaign Dishonors Martin Luther King
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Poor Peoples Campaign Dishonors Martin Luther King
    04 May 2022
    It is disheartening to hear movement leaders say they are inspired by Martin Luther King while also supporting the U.S. proxy war against Russia. Like all wars it endangers the lives of…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us