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

Puerto Rico: Shock and Awe Exposing Capitalism’s Criminality
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Oct 2017
🖨️ Print Article
poet

Water is life…and
even saliva’s in short supply…
For drum-tight mouths, sandpaper throats.
Yodeling bellies cave in on spines,
as evil scents of sewage and death float in,
Refashioning an island into a spreadsheet

Cell towers, power lines snapped like
legos—electricity’s a distant memory—
Refrigerated insulin’s useless.
Oxygen tanks ran out eons ago—
Generators and motorboats are
Music where ATMs froze and
Desperation’s setting in…
celebrity charity’s touching—
But, not the Billions needed…

Cuba’s been ready with doctors—
Venezuela offered oil,
Jamaica wants to jump in—
Even earthquake-ravaged
Mexico lined up supplies!
But, an embargo of greed,
masked in maritime law,
Blocks arteries of foreign-
flagged ships, primed to pump
Blood to Puerto Rico’s body—
food, fuel, water, medicines—
Once again exposing capitalism’s
Bankruptcy

Is there a method to
Boss Tweet’s madness, his
Shock and awe? His
0 empathy, victim blaming,
As animals and people perish; his
cruel, callous debt sermons while
His sordid career floats on
Bankruptcy?

Maybe there’s a method to
his five day fusillade of
Tweets at NFL kneelers;
NBA War House-no shows?
Maybe fire and fury,
Killing 25 million Koreans, makes better
Business sense than delivering food and water,
Saving 3 million Puerto Ricans?
Perhaps “it’s business, not personal—“
Regime change in Venezuela
Trumps diaper change
for Boricuan babies?

Isn’t it elegant,
Gnawing Wall Street’s pound of flesh—
Katrina-style—from island bones?
Succulent FEMA cost-sharing;
Juicy PREPA electrical grid;
Tender teacher pensions;
Storm-skewered Commonwealth
Shish kabob for bondholder,
Bankster, disaster capitalist
contractor/sub-contractor jackals—
How refined!
And for dessert:
Puerto Rican-free Pudding—
Served on high-rise
luxury hotel, golf course,
Post-hurricane playground for the
Rich parasite sponge cake—yum…

Don’t Blame Maria—blame
Hurricane IMF; Hurricanes World Bank,
Goldman-Sachs, Citbank… Blame
Hurricane Financial Management Oversight Board;
Hurricane Taxation Without Representation—
Begging the question:
“Is they is, or is they ain’t citizens?”
Debt cancellation/Reparation/Self-determination
Now!

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

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


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Reese Piece…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Reese Piece…
15 April 2021
Salute to City of Angels’ son! He wrote, he wrote, he wrote And he wrote… Ramparts, The Progressive, The
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
First 100 Daze: A ‘new’ dance craze
27 January 2021
Everybody’s wild ‘bout this ‘new’ dance craze— this lewd, crude dance called “The 1st 100 Daze…”
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
mashing the state— Kristallnacht-style
20 January 2021
Kristallnacht came casting lead ballots, overthrowing Black elected officials and Massacring those that VOTED for them— 
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
This is what hypocrisy looks like…
13 January 2021
“It's like writing history with lightning.“ — Woodrow Wilson on Birth of A Nation
Think…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Think…
06 January 2021
Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers, 

More Stories


  • Judi Rever
    Paul Kagame’s Foray in Eastern Congo Leaves Thousands Dead and Sparks Fears of a Broader war
    12 Feb 2025
    Rwanda’s brutal assault on Goma has unleashed more agony for the Congolese, who are already traumatized by three decades of war.
  • Ramzy Baroud
    Politics or Empty Rhetoric? Examining Trump’s Call for Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza
    12 Feb 2025
    Donald Trump recently made several statements declaring his intent to commit a full-scale ethnic cleansing of Palestine's Gaza Strip. However, this idea, like many others, may be unfeasible and…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio 2.7.2025
    07 Feb 2025
    This week, we speak to a journalist about the recent fires in Los Angeles County that destroyed the lives and homes of many, including a Black community located in Altadena. First, we get an update…
  • Congo protesters
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Turmoil in Congo Creates Public Dispute Between South Africa and Rwanda Presidents
    07 Feb 2025
    Maurice Carney is Executive Director of Friends of the Congo . He joins us from Washington to provide an update on the crisis in Congo. Since he last appeared on Black Agenda Radio the capital city…
  • Altadena fire
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Thandisizwe Chimurenga on the Los Angeles Fire and Black Politics
    07 Feb 2025
    Thandisizwe Chimurenga is a Los Angeles-based journalist and host of RootWork, which can be seen on Black Liberation Media’s YouTube channel. She joins us from Los Angeles to discuss the impact…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us