Bloody hands of state
by BAR poet-in-residence Raymond Nat Turner
1. Armed and dangerous
Handcuffs of unity,
Tasers of truth, Glocks
Of justice, teargas of
Solidarity, walkie-talkies
Tuned to frequencies of
LOVEâyoung and strong,
Marching all night long, 135
Days and counting, turning up
Street heat, scorching Wall Street
Like Shermanâs march through Georgia
Our best chance for justice,
Our best chance for peaceâŚ
Young and strong, marching
All night long, Davids,
Outflanking Goliath ,
Sweeping streets, attracting
Anti-war, living -wage,
Climate justice and Occupy
Filings like a humongous magnet
170
Cities on moral
High ground in war for
Hearts and mindsâŚ
Young and strong, marching
All night long on search and
Destroy missions, uprooting,
Overturning, anything decayed
False, hypocritical, irrationalâ
Each desperate COINTELPRO
Blow to disrupt, misdirect
Otherwise neutralize young
Warriors, backfiring like
Hoopties on the Harbor/110
II. Giant with feet of clay
Forces for forced-feeding,
Waterboarding, Hellfire
Missile murder, for-
Closures, homelessness,
Joblessness, hunger and
Shuttered schools reign
Rubber-coated steel
Bullets, baton blows,
Absurd arrests and
Charges, flash-bang bombs
Goliath-like on Davidsâ
Rein flame-throwing FOX-
Box foot soldiers, grand-
Children of Goebbels,
Rein toxic Reich judge
Janine, warheads Hannity,
OâReilly and Limbaugh,
High priests of torture
Urinating fire on heads
Of hay, blessing their
Bodies with fracking fluid âŚ
The stateâs bloody palm prints
Stain T-shirts, hashtags, astro-
Turf rallies, agent provocateursâ
Orange fingers of flame, blackening
Ferguson and leaving Oakland streets
The crunch of shattered glassâŚ
The stateâs bloody palm prints
Stain our psyches, crimson batikâ
13 years of âmowing the grassâ
Murdering millions of Iraqis,
Afghans, Pakistanis, Libyans,
Syrians, Somalis, Palestinians â
No wonder we welcome David!
III. MK Ultra?
Talking heads trotted out,
Tight formation, narrative
Neatly wrapped around
Neon trail and bio of a
Baltimore Oriole flying
North dropping sound-bite,
Mash-up, composite,
Caricature crumbs
Along the way â
Suspiciously SirhanâŚ
Why so close to astro-
Turf rally? Blue lives
Hashtag? Why those two?
Could this be de ja vuâ
Another coup�
Raymond Nat Turner Š 2014 All Rights Reserved
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