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


  • Mia Mottley of the Barbados Labor Party
    Keston K. Perry
    The Mirage of Mia Mottley’s ‘Progressive’ Politics
    13 Dec 2023
    Despite the praise she receives for being the “progressive” leader needed in the Caribbean, Mia Mottley and her policies in Barbados and her work within CARICOM have not veered outside the realm of…
  • Henry Kissinger
    K.J. Noh 
    Question the Narrative that Villanizes Henry Kissinger: Correcting the memory of the obsequious butler of US empire
    13 Dec 2023
    Kissinger is known as either the epitome of a statesman or the most hated man on the planet due to the atrocities committed under his leadership or advisement. However, the weight of these acts…
  • Anima Adjepong
    Book Review: Race to be Myself
    13 Dec 2023
    Anima Adjepong reviews the book "Race to Be Myself" by Caster Semeya, a South African Track and Field star whose gender was questioned by national sporting institutions.
  • Two square rectangles, one with the word "fact", the other with the word "opinion"
    Dr.Wilmer J. Leon, III
    You Are Entitled to Your Opinion, Not Your Own Facts
    13 Dec 2023
    During the genocide in Palestine, we have seen an extraordinary amount of propaganda in the form of media control and lies from government officials. However, the reality of this atrocity has shifted…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    On this Human Rights Day, Let Us Remember that the U.S. is the Greatest Violator of Human Rights in the World
    13 Dec 2023
    The U.S. routinely violates human rights domestically and internationally.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us