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

2/4 Dance Don’t Cut It
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Jan 2018
🖨️ Print Article
2/4 Dance Don’t Cut It
2/4 Dance Don’t Cut It

“Pay, or die…” the Death
Sentence Big Pharma-
Insurance Mob just issued
a neighbor; and a Frankenfood
experiment’s irritating my gut

The water smells swampy some days,
like bleach others; Tents grow in night
air like multi-colored mushrooms—crazy
cancer cells; Another school’s shuttered,
its teachers scattered in the wind, like
pencil sharpener shavings—Money for
Bombs, not for books—Wow, the wars
went from seven to nine this week…

Here they come again with Fear:
‘Freedom of Choice,’ binary bad
or worse options—hiking uphill
barefoot, in elephant excrement,
donkey dung to take one—with or
without Vaseline—from the1% again

I’m not sure I have another 8 yrs
for translating, deciphering slogans:
“Regime…change you can believe in!”
“Yes, we can…and bottle Jim Jones Juice!”
as silly spoils of celebrity-worship;
Isn’t it time for Adult Politics?

Isn’t it time to abandon Infantile
Exercises—searching for saviors
Every 2 to 4 yrs—and Nominate
Meeting More Than Four Corners;
Donate to Door-To-Door; Phone Bank
for Boycott; Campaign for Consciousness;
Support Shoe Leather-Street Heat running for
Raising roofs, planting food, curing cancer?

poetry

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


More Stories


  • Cover of the "We Charge Genocide" book
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    When Genocide Is No Longer Genocide
    13 Dec 2023
    Some of Israel's defenders want to do away with the concept of genocide in hopes of washing away its war crimes. Any redefinition would allow the U.S. to disappear the many genocides it has committed…
  • Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
    13 Dec 2023
    Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
  • Fists in the air
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Musings from the Margins #4: Black Lackeys, White Social Democrats, Human Rights and Empire’s Decline
    13 Dec 2023
    Black Agenda Report Editor and Columnist Ajamu Baraka has thoughts on Black Misleadership, faux human rights, the decline of the Empire, white Social Democrats, and other issues.
  • Pro-Palestinian protestors rally in support of Palestinians in Gaza
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    One State Reality
    13 Dec 2023
    Recognizing the one state reality of Israel-Palestine instead of two-state dreaming would be a huge paradigm shift with huge implications.
  • Joy James speaking on a panel at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice's Carceral State Reading
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Joy James’ Book, “New Bones Abolition”
    13 Dec 2023
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Joy James. Dr. James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College.…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us