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
  • omnibus

Weaponized Condolences of a Warfare State
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Nov 2015

By BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Terror attacks against French civilians have become the excuse du jour for the US surveillance state, for ramping up drone murders of other civilians, and military boots on the ground everywhere from Syria to south Philly.

Weaponized Condolences of a Warfare State

By BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Blood, guts, severed heads and limbs
litter rubble. Blood has not had time to
coagulate. Wall Street piranha cry
crocodile tears on terror. Opening bomb 
bays, their “Hearts go out,” $110,000 a pop.
Job-creators of ruin, gift themselves another
War.

It could have been Port au Prince, Kinshasa,
Tripoli, Damascus, Baghdad, Boston, London,
NYC. But this time, it was The City of Lights.
Some of us listen to leaders without legs to
stand on, fooling fools and babies. We were
Briefly innocent; never naïve around shocking,
Awful carnage in our names—crimes against
Humanity…

The hospital bombing, Nobel Peace Prize-
winning war criminal cries anti-freeze tears.
Palestinians Feel the Bern of white phosphorus
in corporate catechism: “Yes, we can” seamlessly
wage endless war, and do regime “Change you
can believe in.” It’s still the New Amerikkkan Century
And a Golda-plated Iron Lady Rusts In Peace, waiting
on the wings of a Predator drone. She grows impatient
to Start smearing the paint—crimson, ivory, navy—
for War!

Electoral Lilliputians lost their minds and moral
compasses, trading organizing for orgasm with the
2nd Coming of Christ. They were once Anti-war
Activists. Now they’re just junkies with 7-year
itches—8-year hitches; eunuchs and nuns taking
Mule dung wafer vows of silence; worms, crawling
around searching for imaginary openings to ‘organize’
on the Commander’s watch.

The world can’t wait for them to become clean and
Sober!
The world can’t wait for them to quit organizing
Halloween parties. Parties dressing bogeymen on
elephants as the end of the world; War criminals  
on mules as Mother Theresa, scaring out the vote;
Helping fuel the Wehrmacht with Fear!

Raymond Nat Turner © 2015 All Rights Reserved

Besides being Black Agenda Report's poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and accomplished performance artist.  Find more of his work, and give your event an upsurge with the UpSurge Jazz Poetry Ensemble at http://www.upsurgejazz.com/

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


More Stories


  • Looking for space for General Baker Institute, 2016 - Photo: Roy Singham
    Roy Singham
    On the Road from Detroit to South Africa: Black Radical Internationalist Traditions
    23 Nov 2021
    Roy Singham reminisces about his work with the late General Gordon Baker, Jr. and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW) in Detroit and its connections with South African workers.
  • Secretary Blinken and Nigerian president Buhari
    Netfa Freeman
    Desperate US Sends Blinken to Africa
    23 Nov 2021
    Africa is a key component of China's Belt and Road Initiative.
  • White America's Latest Fear Mongering Code Language: CRT and Wokeness
    Thad Baltimore
    White America's Latest Fear Mongering Code Language: CRT and Wokeness
    23 Nov 2021
    Anti-Black racism is at the heart of the debate on Critical Race Theory and use of the word "woke" as a pejorative.
  • Banning of Palestinian NGOs: How Israel Tries to Silence Human Rights Defenders
    Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo
    Banning of Palestinian NGOs: How Israel Tries to Silence Human Rights Defenders
    23 Nov 2021
    The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is celebrated on November 29.
  • Sudanese Protest Military Take Over of Civilian Government
    Peoples Dispatch
    Sudan’s Anti-Coup Protesters Reject Agreement to Reinstate Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok
    23 Nov 2021
    The people of Sudan reject the military's attempt to give legitimacy to the coup waged against the civilian government.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us