Beirut BOOM | Black Agenda Report

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

19 Aug 2020

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Beirut BOOM

A big BOOM—
27,000 tons of ammonium nitrate…
chemical compound for agricultural
Fertilizer…
‘stored’ 6 years at the port of Beirut
220 dead
5,000 injured
300,000 houseless; Millions traumatized

A big BOOM—
surgically removing cranes, grain silos,
warehouses, hospitals—billion dollar
monuments to Lebanese workers’ labor;
life-lines to wealth workers of the world
Produce

A big BOOM—
weaponizing plate glass windows—
its shockwaves overturning cars;
the crescendo crunch of shattered
glass is heard where Coronavirus tiptoes
silently; and long, light fingers loot tacitly

A big BOOM—
and a slogan, “All of them means All of them!”
morphs into heads of spears hurling themselves
at the capitol— at incompetent, corrupt ministers
of Environment, Justice, Information and Finance
who flee… Get out of town before sundown—before
their frightened heads are handed to them in street
Ceremony—Louie, Louie THEY gotta GO!

We have 27,000 tons of fertilizer—orange fireball—mush-
room cloud—sitting in the War House’s Offal Office. We have
27,000 tons of fertilizer sitting on Capitalist Hill. We have
27,000 tons of fertilizer sitting in the White Supreme Court—
the Pentagon—exploding daily—sucking blood; sucking oxygen
from our planet; incinerating 170,000… Anticipating 300,000
December dead… It’s called capitalism…

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 .

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