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

Who’s a Worker? (for Leo, Clarence, Jack, Trent and ILWU Local 10 Brothers and Sisters)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
24 Jun 2020
🖨️ Print Article
Who’s a Worker? (for Leo, Clarence, Jack, Trent and ILWU Local 10 Brothers and Sisters)
Who’s a Worker? (for Leo, Clarence, Jack, Trent and ILWU Local 10 Brothers and Sisters)

I’ve prepped produce; bagged bread; 
stocked shelves; pulled products for-
ward on shelves of several stores. So
I bring nothing but love for frontline 

Food workers.
I’ve shared warm handmade corn tortillas 
and piping hot pinto beans with workers of
Bent back magic:Workers whose brown hands 
pull green salads from black soil at warp speed;
for microscopic compensation and appreciation

I’ve broken bread with heroic workers donning
plastic armor fighting infection, slaying pain—
beating back the dragon of death.
And I’ll own my crushes on workers waltzing
articulated coaches through crowded cities— 
carrying Colts in purses for personal protection

And I’ve long admired my Longshore Brothers 
and Sisters emptying 
bulging bags of grain from bellies of ships, un-
stacking skyscrapers of containers from their
decks for warehouses, windows, bellies of the world

I’ve farted blue forklift fumes as a warehouse worker,
swooping on 18-wheelers pulling pallets of TVs off; I’ve 
stacked shelves with mufflers, floor jacks, tools; Snatched
stoves and refrigerators from racks stacked: “Too High.”
I’ve swept and mopped floors kitchen clean, emptied waste-
baskets, scrubbed toilets pearly white, moved 55 gallon drums
of oil-laden metal shavings—even poisoned weeds—As a janitor…

So, excuse me if I have a hard time understanding
Workers who kettle kids in tight spaces, shooting projectiles in their faces; Workers who beat strikers with long bats breaking up their militant wildcats; 
Workers who grind knees in to necks and receive fat six-figure checks;
Workers who produce
Violence and tension and receive benefits and a pension?

© 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 comments@blackagendareport.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

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 In Poetics to Ra
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!”
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 resistance and refusal, by Pa
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?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                       
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who

More Stories


  • Let Haiti Breathe – CORE Group Out of Haiti
    Kevin Edmonds
    Let Haiti Breathe – CORE Group Out of Haiti
    06 Oct 2021
    Dismantling the unelected and colonialist CORE Group is the first step to loosening the imperialist stranglehold over Haiti.
  • Africa's COVID-19 Vaccine and the Scandal of the Centuries
    Salimah Valiani, PhD
    Africa's COVID-19 Vaccine and the Scandal of the Centuries
    05 Oct 2021
    African nations might have produced a patent free vaccine that would have benefitted the whole world.
  • In a California Desert Sheriff Deputies Settle Schoolyard Disputes and Black Teens Bear the Brunt
    Emily Elena Dugdale, Irena Hwang
    In a California Desert Sheriff Deputies Settle Schoolyard Disputes and Black Teens Bear the Brunt
    02 Oct 2021
    Deputies in California’s Antelope Valley are disproportionately citing Black teens for minor infractions that lead to criminal records and incarceration.
  • Systemic racism is built into Canada’s prison system, but federal parties have little to offer incarcerated Black Canadians and their families.
    Simon Rolston, Nora Demnati
    Anti-Black Racism in Canadian Prisons Remains Rampant, Despite Government Pledges
    02 Oct 2021
    Systemic racism is built into Canada’s prison system, but federal parties have little to offer incarcerated Black Canadians and their families.
  • Unstable property rights mean Black southerners may survive a flood but lose their home, and it’s causing the racial wealth gap to grow larger.
    Sarah Sax
    Black families Passed Their Homes from One Generation to the Next. Now They May Be Lost.
    02 Oct 2021
    This article first appeared in The Guardian.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us