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I had a nightmare (For friend/fellow Poet Genny Lim)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
22 Apr 2020
I had a nightmare (For friend/fellow Poet Genny Lim)
I had a nightmare (For friend/fellow Poet Genny Lim)

I had a nightmare
that down in Mississippi,
its governor having his lips 
dripping with words of Social Darwinism,
Herd immunity and Mengele Medicine,
Defied COVID-19 and hosted his own
Houston-style “Howdy Modi” Rally—
A gathering of strongmen—
not wrong men 
A gathering of right men
for the white men 
in the white house

A gathering of asymptomatic 
autocrats from around the
World—Brazil, India, the Philippines,
Saudi Arabia and the UK lead
Neoliberal, anti-science, climate deniers; anti-
Abortion thugs; anti-Asian, anti-Muslim, anti-
Communist; homophobic, nazi, klansmen and
their war-profiteer, private prison paymasters

Their bright banners: bars, stars and swastikas
festooned the roaring SRO stadium punctuated 
by humongous signs: 
A NO MASK, GLOVES, HAND SANITIZER ZONE
ABSOLUTELY NO SOCIAL DISTANCING ALLOWED
NFL-sized men with earpieces enforced it
confiscating gloves, masks, hand sanitizer—
But allowing big bottles of booze, kegs of beer
and mammoth slabs of tailgate burnt beef and pork

Jumbotron shots of southern senators wind-
surfing on raw sewage drew double-decibel cheers 
And Kid Rock’s rousing rendition of “The Star
Spangled Banner” swept over the stadium like
Super Storm Sandy—detonating loud, raucous
““U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!” and “We’re # 1!” chants!
Dr. Goebbels gas-lighting contests were the bomb; and
Big lie-1/2 truth-misinformation-disinformation cyphers rocked;
Waterboarding and confederate statue-climbing contests were hot!

I tried talking one ol’ varmint—prairie dog— 
out of the circular firing squad. He
spat tobacco and the N-word at me.
I tried warning a smug cowboy volunteering for
“some Saudi head” that it wasn’t what he thought 
it was. 
I avoided those lining up for
“Using Your 2nd Amendment Rights Defending the Right To Work”
“Racialized Medicine Good/Socialized Medicine Bad” TED Talks.

I also skipped the Semi-Main Event 
Razor Bladed Wrestling: 
Modi versus Bolsonaro 
and 
The Main Event: A Pistol Duel: 
Duterte versus Boss Tweet 
(A tie at the end of regulation would
go into Sudden Death Overtime…)

In this open-carry-stand your ground
gathering—good ol’ boys packed slave ship
Tight—looking for pots of gold, or white light
at the end of the tunnel; I feared for my life!
I quickly slipped from the stadium, walking
North—fast—through unlit, unfamiliar woods
And—whew— found my way back to Harlem…

Woke…

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

poetry

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