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

Disposable Killing Machines R US
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
01 Oct 2013
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner

The wakeful sleep of the 1% is

Haunted by long shadows of

Conscious soldiers, progeny

Of militant mass movements —

 

Disposable Killing Machines R US

by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner

 

12, 23, 32, 300, 3,000;

Long gun, handgun, back

Pack, Ryder rental truck;

Shopping mall, movie-theater,

Naval facility, army base—

A thousand to choose from—

D.C., VA, CT, CO, CA, Texas;

Aaron, Adam, James, Timothy,

Nidal, disposable killing machines…

 

Nightmares looped over

Murder manuals memorized,

Looped over recorded command voices,

Looped over clanging pots and pans

Piped through vents, driving

Pharma’s sleep deprivation

Psychotropic drug playthings mad!

 

Disposable killing machines

Sometime short-circuit, suffer

Insomnia, anxiety, depression

Hurting themselves with

Programming for hurting

“Bug splat,” “sand nigger” others

 

The wakeful sleep of the 1% is

Haunted by long shadows of

Conscious soldiers, progeny

Of militant mass movements —

Avatars of Aaron Alexis,

Christopher Dorner, Timothy

McVey and other disposable

Killing machines, morphing

Into Marilyn Buck, Geronimo

Ji-Jaga, John Brown action-

Figures, armed with semi-

Automatic Marxist analysis,

Weapon of mass instruction,

Trained to “drain the swamp”

Of its sulfur stench and war

Criminal curriculum, gassing minds…

 

Raymond Nat Turner can be contacted at upsurgejazz.com.

 

Raymond Nat Turner © 2013 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


  • Puerto Rico independence movement
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution and Struggle for Independence in Puerto Rico
    06 Mar 2026
    Brianna Alvarado Ramos of Diaspora Pa’lante Collective discusses the challenges of the revolutionary struggle in Venezuela and the fight for Puerto Rico's independence from U.S. colonialism.
  • The Editors
    Iran 2026: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
    04 Mar 2026
    Iran 2026: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
  • Ajamu Baraka and Gerald Horne
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Dr. Gerald Horne , BettBeat
    Epstein Class vs. Iran: "They’ll Blow Up the World"
    04 Mar 2026
    BAR Editor and Columnist Ajamu Baraka joined BettBeat Media, alongside Dr. Gerald Horne, to discuss the US imperialist campaign against Iran amid the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and how the same…
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Iran and the Psychopathology of White Supremacy
    04 Mar 2026
    Western threats against Iran and other nations reveal the persistence of white supremacist ideology.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    How Liberals Support Trump's War Against Iran
    04 Mar 2026
    “I don’t like Trump but Iran is bad,” is the siren song of feckless liberals. This moment calls for condemnation of the U.S. and unreserved support for the Iranian people and for their state.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us