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

Beirut BOOM
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Aug 2020
🖨️ Print Article
Beirut BOOM
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…

© 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


  • U.S. Militarism toward China is Part and Parcel of American Hegemony Syndrome
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    U.S. Militarism toward China is Part and Parcel of American Hegemony Syndrome
    26 Aug 2020
        American hegemony syndrome has shifted public attention away from the critical problems facing humanity by demonizing China.
  • “The Man Who Heals Women” Calls for an International Criminal Tribunal for Congo
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    “The Man Who Heals Women” Calls for an International Criminal Tribunal for Congo
    26 Aug 2020
    The West lavishes praise on Dr. Denis Mukwege for healing victims of weaponized sexual violence but protects the perpetrators, writes Ann Garrison.  
  • James Baldwin Still Matters and Eddie Glaude’s Book on Him Doesn’t
    Anthony Monteiro
    James Baldwin Still Matters and Eddie Glaude’s Book on Him Doesn’t
    26 Aug 2020
    Glaude has done a great injustice to Baldwin, turning the great Black writer and thinker into a mere liberal burned out by trauma and a sense of his fragility.
  • For my Postal Worker Brothers and Sisters
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    For my Postal Worker Brothers and Sisters
    26 Aug 2020
    “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom  of night stays these courageous couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” --Herodotus
  • Chicago is Dystopian Police State of Racial Oppression and Class Rule
    Paul Street
    Chicago is Dystopian Police State of Racial Oppression and Class Rule
    26 Aug 2020
    While her cops bust heads and kettle protesters, Chicago’s Black mayor Lori Lightfoot works behind the scenes with Trump’s “Operation Legend” agents to crack down on the inner city.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us