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

Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
17 Dec 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Horace Silver
Medu Art Ensemble, Culture and Resistance Symposium and Festival of the Arts, 1982.

Harmony of a hug,
Rhythm of a rose,
Melody in the mirror

We are an army of artists
Merchants of life,
Beauty's our bomb,
Love its shrapnel…

We are an army of artists
Infantry on feet of celebration,
Toes polishing
Hardwood floors with perspiration

We are an army of artists
Brandishing sticks and brushes,
Softening up enemies with
Strokes and notes,
Partisans wielding pastels,
Oils and acrylics—
Connecting dots, hitting spots
On canvas and paper

We are an army of artists
Foreign fighters, formerly known
As Dukes, Counts, Birds and Pops—
Militant magi weaving dreams in
Azure skies, etching prayers
In mirrors with our acid tears

We are an army of artists
Asymmetrical warriors,
Mopping up murals
Gracing broken-down buildings—
Enemy combatants crying clear
Lacquer on contrabasses,
Snipers shooting sunlight into
Hearts held hostage by the 1%
Ellingtonia is our tonic…
For subdominant dreams

We are an army of artists
Dangerously unselfish,
Enemies of ignorance
Drumming to different dancers—
Staging attacks in theaters
Exploding in applause!

© 2010. 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.

poetry
Art
resistance

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
JoeSam art
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
24 January 2024
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
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.
BAR Book Forum: Jennifer S. Ponce de León’s “Another Aesthetics Is Possible”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jennifer S. Ponce de León’s “Another Aesthetics Is Possible”
07 December 2021
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation

More Stories


  • AfroLatinidad and Spirituality: An Interview with Guesnerth Josué Perea and Roberto Sirvent
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor , Guesnerth Josué Perea
    AfroLatinidad and Spirituality: An Interview with Guesnerth Josué Perea and Roberto Sirvent
    17 May 2023
    BAR Book Forum editor Roberto Sirvent discusses AfroLatinidad and spirituality with Guesnerth Josué Perea.
  • State of Impunity: Fire at Gold Mine Leaves 27 Dead in Arequipa
    Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    State of Impunity: Fire at Gold Mine Leaves 27 Dead in Arequipa
    17 May 2023
    A gold mine fire killed 27 men in Peru. The people in that nation are not just struggling against the coup regime, but against official corruption and the exploitation of people and their land.
  • Daniel Penny is The State
    Ashoka Jegroo
    Daniel Penny is The State
    17 May 2023
    Daniel Penny choked Jordan Neely to death on a New York City subway. He was deputized by the state to do so, and the state continues to defend him and assassinate Neely's character after his murder.
  • Atlanta to Host National Conference for Black Self-Determination and Pan-African Unity
    Tunde Osazua
    Atlanta to Host National Conference for Black Self-Determination and Pan-African Unity
    17 May 2023
    Community Movement Builders is hosting a National Black Radical Organizing Conference in Atlanta, Georgia from June 23 to June 25, "Connecting the national Black struggle for self-determination with…
  • U.S. Backs Dominican Republic As Violence Against Haitians Escalates After 22% of Haitians Deported
    Vladimir Fuentes
    U.S. Backs Dominican Republic As Violence Against Haitians Escalates After 22% of Haitians Deported
    17 May 2023
    The Dominican Republican continues acts of violence and deportations against Haitian descended people with near complete impunity as a result of making thousands of people stateless.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us