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

Hooked On Hopium
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
13 Jun 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

There will be no replay of 2008’s greatest hits, but the reflux is debilitating in the extreme – for those who got hooked on Hopium.

 

Hooked On Hopium

by Raymond Nat Turner

*Look at the people –

I know you’re wonderin’ what they’re doin’

Crawlin’ ‘round the marble

Floors lookin’ for his

Feet, and the fire be-

Longing to Boeing,

And the other Big

Boys, Negroz have hit

Rock bottom, powerless

To admit they are

Addicts who will lie,

Steal, leave their babies

And homes in hands of

The Hope Man— even

Act as accessories

To murder— ever

Since that first hit, ’08.

 

*“Look at the people—

I know you’re wonderin’ what they’re doin’

They’re just standin’ there…

Caught up in the rap-

Ture of Hopium’s

Side effects:

Stupor, paralysis,

Heart palpitations,

Ringing ears, dry mouths,

Slurred speech, confused thinking,

Hallucinations,

Delusional, schizophrenic,

Suicidal behavior…

If symptoms persist,

Longer than 4 years,

Negroz must consult

Mental health professionals

Immediately and avoid

Operating heavy equipment,

Like tanks, helicopters,

Aircraft carriers,

Armored personnel

Carriers, or drones…

 

(*Based on Bobby Blue Bland’s Blues classic “I Pity The Fool”)

Raymond Nat Turner @ 2012 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: The Problem of Haiti is the Same as Latin America: Gerard Pierre-Charles, 1983
    15 Jan 2025
    Despite selling out Haiti, former Haitian leftist Gerard Pierre-Charles’s 1983 diagnosis of the imperialist assault on current movements still resonates today.
  • Manley greets a crowd
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor , Riva Enteen
    Remembering Jamaica in the East/West Crossfire, Part II
    15 Jan 2025
    Both class and color barriers were broken down during the Michael Manley era, but class barriers re-emerged.
  • Sign of one of the children in the Guayaquil four
    Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    The War on Africans in Ecuador: an Interview with Uriel Castillo of MANE
    15 Jan 2025
    Over a month after the killings of four young boys in Ecuador, now known as the Guayaquil Four, the community is still reeling but is also activated. This case has sparked a movement that is…
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis’s Book, “Abolish Rent”
    15 Jan 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured authors are Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis. Their book is Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can…
  • JP Sloan
    all their deaths were ruled suicide
    15 Jan 2025
    for Aiyana, for Tommie, for Jordan.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us