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

Puerto Rico: Shock and Awe Exposing Capitalism’s Criminality
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Oct 2017
🖨️ Print Article
poet

Water is life…and
even saliva’s in short supply…
For drum-tight mouths, sandpaper throats.
Yodeling bellies cave in on spines,
as evil scents of sewage and death float in,
Refashioning an island into a spreadsheet

Cell towers, power lines snapped like
legos—electricity’s a distant memory—
Refrigerated insulin’s useless.
Oxygen tanks ran out eons ago—
Generators and motorboats are
Music where ATMs froze and
Desperation’s setting in…
celebrity charity’s touching—
But, not the Billions needed…

Cuba’s been ready with doctors—
Venezuela offered oil,
Jamaica wants to jump in—
Even earthquake-ravaged
Mexico lined up supplies!
But, an embargo of greed,
masked in maritime law,
Blocks arteries of foreign-
flagged ships, primed to pump
Blood to Puerto Rico’s body—
food, fuel, water, medicines—
Once again exposing capitalism’s
Bankruptcy

Is there a method to
Boss Tweet’s madness, his
Shock and awe? His
0 empathy, victim blaming,
As animals and people perish; his
cruel, callous debt sermons while
His sordid career floats on
Bankruptcy?

Maybe there’s a method to
his five day fusillade of
Tweets at NFL kneelers;
NBA War House-no shows?
Maybe fire and fury,
Killing 25 million Koreans, makes better
Business sense than delivering food and water,
Saving 3 million Puerto Ricans?
Perhaps “it’s business, not personal—“
Regime change in Venezuela
Trumps diaper change
for Boricuan babies?

Isn’t it elegant,
Gnawing Wall Street’s pound of flesh—
Katrina-style—from island bones?
Succulent FEMA cost-sharing;
Juicy PREPA electrical grid;
Tender teacher pensions;
Storm-skewered Commonwealth
Shish kabob for bondholder,
Bankster, disaster capitalist
contractor/sub-contractor jackals—
How refined!
And for dessert:
Puerto Rican-free Pudding—
Served on high-rise
luxury hotel, golf course,
Post-hurricane playground for the
Rich parasite sponge cake—yum…

Don’t Blame Maria—blame
Hurricane IMF; Hurricanes World Bank,
Goldman-Sachs, Citbank… Blame
Hurricane Financial Management Oversight Board;
Hurricane Taxation Without Representation—
Begging the question:
“Is they is, or is they ain’t citizens?”
Debt cancellation/Reparation/Self-determination
Now!

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. 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


  • BAR Book Forum: Elizabeth Foster’s book, “African Catholic”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Elizabeth Foster’s book, “African Catholic”
    04 Mar 2020
    The decolonization of Africa, and the determined activism of prominent African Catholics, played an important role in diversifying the church.
  • Former UN Rapporteur on Human Rights: US Sanctions Have Killed More Than 100 Thousand Venezuelans
    Orinoco Tribune
    Former UN Rapporteur on Human Rights: US Sanctions Have Killed More Than 100 Thousand Venezuelans
    04 Mar 2020
    Catastrophic death and massive emigration are due to Washington’s financial suffocation and blockade of the socialist-governed country.
  • Lawyers for the Left: A Review
    Flint Taylor
    Lawyers for the Left: A Review
    04 Mar 2020
    This lawyers’ story inspires us to march forward against the forces of repression, oppression, and white supremacy.”
  • Message to the US Corporate Media: Capitalism is Responsible for the Deaths of Millions of People
    Solomon Comissiong
    Message to the US Corporate Media: Capitalism is Responsible for the Deaths of Millions of People
    04 Mar 2020
    Corporate media snake-oil salesmen/women are doing their best to convince the masses that socialism is the devil itself.
  • The Gift of India and the Violence of the West 
    R. Divya Nair
    The Gift of India and the Violence of the West 
    04 Mar 2020
    Five centuries ago, Europeans set about subjugating the non-“white” peoples of the world, and they are still at it.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us