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

Sitting Shiva in South Florida for Our souls/slivers of democracy …
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
27 Mar 2024
🖨️ Print Article
memorial candles

Mirrorless. Unshaven. Compressed spine from
Sitting shiva in South Florida for blind eyes.
For three monkey mouths and ears in throes of
Spiritual death

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Shrieks of joy stolen by a desert aircraft carrier of F-16 reign.
Assassin of children. Bulldozer of dreams cadaver dogs tear
from bloody limbs of loved ones lost to a skunk water oasis.

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Settler-colonial condos metastasizing on bleached
Bones of babies—on schoolchildren’s aerosolized
Blood; On tears pooling in pulverized concrete …

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Lost souls and slivers of aspirational
Democracy: 1st, 4th and other Amendments—
Wrested from tyrants historical seconds ago …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Last Days of Pompeo. Watching White Supreme Courtesans
Play black-robed rip off rituals. Watching southern senators be-
come maid men, circumcising themselves on the senate floor …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching cruel grand dragon governors block rivers with
Orange buoys, saw blades, barbed wire, like they blocked
School house doors 60 years ago

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Sorting inquisitions from pogroms; Sand Creeks from
Wounded Knees—Tulsas from Rosewoods …. Sorting crunching
Glass sounds beneath Kristallnacht boots from January 6 boots …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching Sunshine State book-banning/Texas Tali-banning of
Abortion. Watching cotton curtain violence of Magnolia State
Weaponization of water

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching elders struggle with high fructose corn syrup
$campaign/$election slogans— ‘Build Back Better’ bupkis–
Wehrmacht musings. War House flapping of flat tires on a clown car

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Could someone really be ranting about not feeling ‘safe’
Wearing Dallas Cowboy-sized Star of David sweatshirt
Around the Sunshine State?

© 2024. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at GoFundMe and PayPal.

Palestine
Texas
abortion
Elections
Racism

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
U.S. Support of Israel is Absolutely an Issue of Affordability and Economic Populism…So Why Won’t the Democrats Discuss it as Such?
29 July 2026
The Democratic Party's continued support for Israel's genocide is not just a moral and political liability but also an economic one w
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Lindsey Graham Was the Face of the Duopoly
15 July 2026
The late Senator Lindsey Graham played the role of chief congressional warmonger very well.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Race Trading Race Traitors, Identity Reductionism, and the New Nadir of the Democrat Party Establishment
15 July 2026
The social democrat wing gains in strength but establishment Democrats continue their allegiance to the donor class.
Kit Klarenberg
Exclusive: Fergie Chambers Facing US Extradition Over Dubious ‘terrorism financing’ Charges
15 July 2026
The Grayzone has reviewed a sealed indictment for pro-Palestine donor Fergie Chambers, who was arrested in Spain on dubious money laundering ch
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Could Wemby Become the Conscience of the NBA?
24 June 2026
NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama grapples with the times we’re living in, even as his career takes off.
Matt Sledge
Prairieland Defendant Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Moving a Box of Antifascist Zines
23 June 2026
Anti-ICE activists received lengthy prison terms — including a 100-year sentence — in the first major trial of the NSPM-7 era.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Big D Dysfunction: Why The Democrat Party’s Latest Comedy of Errors is a Tragedy of Strategy 
27 May 2026
The party that installed its presidential candidate without a primary vote now blames its 2024 loss on everything except its own cont
Matt Sledge , Sam Biddle
ICE Recruitment Tweets Are So Racist That Cops Feared They Could Incite Neo-Nazi Violence
27 May 2026
A newly uncovered police bulletin warns that white supremacists may interpret ICE social media content as a call to violence.
x
Yarden Azoulay Katz
“Their Chaos is Our Peace”: Fighting Zionist Repression in Texas and Beyond
29 April 2026
Zionists continue their attacks on universities, exerting pressure to silence and terminate professors who express views in support of Palestin
John Parker
Socialist candidate John Parker: Abolish ICE and police, fund people’s needs
22 April 2026
Following is a recent campaign meeting talk by socialist congressional candidate John Parker.

More Stories


  • White Nationalists Will Convene at American Renaissance Conference
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    White Nationalists Will Convene at American Renaissance Conference
    28 Oct 2022
    Daryle Lamont Jenkins is Executive Director of the One People’s Project, which seeks to combat right wing groups and individuals by exposing their threat to the world. He joins us from New Brunswick…
  • International Realignments and the Absence of Progressive Voices in the West
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    International Realignments and the Absence of Progressive Voices in the West
    28 Oct 2022
    Dr. Gerald Horne was a guest on Sputnik's The Critical Hour, with Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon. He discussed the realignment of African nations away from the US and former colonizers and towards…
  • DOCUMENT: Prologue: The Global Fragility Act, April 2022
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    DOCUMENT: Prologue: The Global Fragility Act, April 2022
    26 Oct 2022
    The US is ushering a new foreign policy doctrine through “The Global Fragility Act.” We need to not only understand these new forms of imperial practice, but to also see the cunning use of language…
  • Biden Orders Progressives to Denounce Themselves on Ukraine
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden Orders Progressives to Denounce Themselves on Ukraine
    26 Oct 2022
    Progressives made a mealy mouthed appeal to Biden to engage in talks regarding Ukraine. He slapped them down and they in turn slapped themselves.
  • The Importance of the 20th CPC National Congress to the World
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Importance of the 20th CPC National Congress to the World
    26 Oct 2022
    Corporate media fail in the most basic of journalistic standards when covering China. The recent 20th National Congress of the CPC was an opportunity to convey important information instead of "China…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us