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


  • Ukraine: Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective
    Gerald A. Perreira
    Ukraine: Getting it Right: A Revolutionary Pan-African Perspective
    02 Mar 2022
    Knowledge of Russian, European and American history is necessary in order to understand events taking place in Ukraine.
  • US sanctions on Russia over Ukraine also target Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba
    Benjamin Norton
    US sanctions on Russia over Ukraine also target Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba
    02 Mar 2022
    The U.S. and Western powers talk about a "Troika of Tyranny" in Latin America because the nations in that region recognize the dangers of the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination. But any tyranny taking…
  • The Biden Era, Ukraine, and the Crisis of the Left w/Dr. Anthony Monteiro
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
    The Biden Era, Ukraine, and the Crisis of the Left w/Dr. Anthony Monteiro
    28 Feb 2022
    Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley speak with Dr. Anthony Monteiro, organizer of the Saturday Free School and a long time BAR contributor.
  • New York Bail Reform Fight
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    New York Bail Reform Fight
    23 Feb 2022
    Black legislators in New York are defending their legislation which reduces the use of cash bail.
  • GLEN FORD: U.S. Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission, March 20, 2014
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    GLEN FORD: U.S. Prepares to Gas Russia Into Submission, March 20, 2014
    23 Feb 2022
    Glen Ford’s prescient 2014 essay on the geopolitics of the Ukraine exposes the core issues animating the conflict: US energy interests and economic power.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us