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


  •  Reject “Thanks-Taking,” Join in National Day of Mourning
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Reject “Thanks-Taking,” Join in National Day of Mourning
    24 Nov 2020
    “Instead of celebrating genocide, the National Day of Mourning was created to destroy the Pilgrim mythology” that led to “not a nation of immigrants, but of colonizers,” said Nick Estes
  • Black Misleaders Back Susan Rice as Top Diplomat
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Black Misleaders Back Susan Rice as Top Diplomat
    19 Nov 2020
    Genocide in Congo and militarization of the African continent are Susan Rice’s specialties, but Black Democrats see her as a “role model.”
  • Letters from Our Readers
    BAR Comments Editor Jahan Choudhry
    Letters from Our Readers
    18 Nov 2020
    This week corporate Democrats and resistance to them were on your minds.
  • Freedom Rider: The Real Trump Coup
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: The Real Trump Coup
    18 Nov 2020
    Trump puts whiteness first and that means he will always have support and Republican leaders know it.
  • How the Black Movement Teaches Us to Fight Cold Wars Both Old and New
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    How the Black Movement Teaches Us to Fight Cold Wars Both Old and New
    18 Nov 2020
    China is rising not merely out of colonial underdevelopment but into a position of global leadership.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us