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

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

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 naĂŻve 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 Š 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


  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Plutocratic pendulum swings …
    09 Oct 2024
    "Plutocratic pendulum swings …" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • x
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: George Lipsitz’s Book, “The Danger Zone is Everywhere”
    09 Oct 2024
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is George Lipsitz. Lipsitz is Research Professor Emeritus of Black Studies and…
  • Jon Jeter
    From Axis of Resistance to Political Cuckolds: How Palestinians, African Americans and Black South Africans Were Betrayed by Their Own
    09 Oct 2024
    One of the many unfortunate common threads between Palestinians, South Africans, and African Americans is the betrayal of the people by their political leadership who were meant to lead…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    The Meaning of October 7th: An Oppressed People Will Always Find a Way to Resist Oppression
    09 Oct 2024
    Black Alliance for Peace will never abandon the Rights of Palestinian People to Resist Zionist Colonialism “By Any Means Necessary”
  • Orisanmi Burton
    An open letter to prison officials on the censorship of Tip of the Spear
    09 Oct 2024
    Orisanmi Birton's groundbreaking book, Tip of the Spear, has been listed as contraband in prisons across the country, not only preventing incarcerated people from accessing the book but punishing…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us