by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Now that Democrats are practically out of office, corporate donors are sponsoring empty spectacles of their own design, including another Climate March.
Red Alert
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
A Love Supreme,
A Love Supreme…
For Mother Earth and
Her creatures, her gifts
A Love Supreme,
A Love Supreme…
Dangerous dance, lethal songs,
Powerful prayers—
From the four directions—
First Nations’ Spirit
Weapons of Mass Instruction
Amassing the world’s
Hearts and minds on the Cannonball…
A Love Supreme,
A Love Supreme…
For Mother Earth and
Her creatures, her gifts—
Water is life…
Capitalism death:
Profaning, poisoning, weaponizing water—
Greasy Gulf water wiping mussel, crab, shrimp out
brownish Flint water bearing brain-damaged babies
black Pennsylvania prison water causing
Cancer; and young inmates hair to fall out…
Calling all R2P People
Come in R2P People!
Calling all Sanctions People
Come in Sanctions People!
Calling all No-Fly Zone People
Come in No-Fly Zone People!
Calling all Blockade People
Come in Blockade People!
Where’s the hue and cry:
“He’s using chemical weapons—
Gassing, torturing his own people;
Cracking down on dissent, freedom
of speech, freedom of expression?
Where’s the tom-toms pulsing “regime change”,
“regime change” “regime change” “regime change”?
Calling all People’s Climate Marchers—
All 300,000 of you
Come in People’s Climate Marchers
Maybe you’re busy since Matthew hit Haiti—
Killing over a thousand?
Calling all People’s Climate Marchers—
All 300,000 of you
Come in People’s Climate Marchers—
Your Cochabamba moment flares up like
Ken Saro-Wiwa’s spirit in Ogoni water warriors
In Water Protectors fighting Flint
Terror on the Missouri, protecting our
Lifeblood 7 generations deep—
Needing a ‘surge’—‘boots on the ground’
Money for fighting absurd arrests
Medical supplies for tending class-war wounds…
Fluent in Forked Tongue—the Drone Ranger declares
November “Native American Month”—morphing into
cross-dressing klansmen, reenacting hi-tech
Attacks taking down Occupy
Calling all People’s Climate Marchers—
All 300,000 of you
Come in People’s Climate Marchers:
come make me eat crow—make me a liar;
Make me apologize
for saying you were ‘white’ folks first—
Lovers of land, peoples, creatures last…
For saying the prison-industrial-complex was
Cool with you, if only inmates wore
Recycled rubber sneakers; orange jumpsuits of
Organic cotton; beatings with bamboo batons only
Make me apologize
For saying you were OK with
Empire if electric Humvees and tanks, and
Solar-powered aircraft carriers were deployed
Calling all People’s Climate Marchers—
All 300,000 of you
Come in People’s Climate Marchers:
Forgive me, for a few of you have gone—
From the four directions—
Smuggling Sitting Bull spirit salve, love balm, in
Eyes of Ida, hearts of Harriet, spines of John Brown
Tongues of Douglass—
Metal detectors, strip searches
Rarely detect…
Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. find much mopre of his work at http://usspurgejazz.com
The America COMPETES Act passed by the House of Representatives is a futile effort to "contain" China, and a de facto attack on that country.
The kafala system allows residents to bring workers into Lebanon, where they are often abused and overworked with no recourse to protection under labor laws.
Nigerian scholar Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí’s speech upon acceptance of the African Studies Association’s Distinguished Africanist Award offers an important reminder of the role of racist and sexist hie
The current crisis in Ukraine had its beginnings in 2014, when the U.S. allied itself with right wing, white supremacist forces to overthrow an elected government.
U.S. accusations of human rights abuses elsewhere ring hollow.
