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


  • Colonialism, Compradors & The Militarized Crisis of Capitalism in Africa
    Black Alliance For Peace
    Colonialism, Compradors & The Militarized Crisis of Capitalism in Africa
    05 Oct 2022
    Black Alliance for Peace kicked off the 2022 International Month of Action Against AFRICOM with the webinar “Colonialism, Compradors & the Militarized Crisis of Capitalism in Africa."
  • Congressional Black Caucus Continues Its Downward Spiral
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Congressional Black Caucus Continues Its Downward Spiral
    05 Oct 2022
    The Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference returned with dubious corporate sponsorships and obedience to the democratic party. Joe Biden received a warm welcome which is logical…
  • ESSAY: A Case of Mistaken Identity: Antihaitianismo in Dominican Culture, Ernesto Sagás, 1993
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: A Case of Mistaken Identity: Antihaitianismo in Dominican Culture, Ernesto Sagás, 1993
    05 Oct 2022
    On the history and origins of anti-Haitian sentiment in the Dominican Republic.
  • Combat Nihilism: Revolutionary Optimism in the Age of U.S. Imperial Decline
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Combat Nihilism: Revolutionary Optimism in the Age of U.S. Imperial Decline
    05 Oct 2022
    Optimism would seem to be counter intuitive given the many crises facing millions of people in the U.S. and around the world. But optimism backed up by revolutionary thinking is just what is…
  • Brazil’s Haitian Training Ground
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    Brazil’s Haitian Training Ground
    05 Oct 2022
    Brazil is setting up for a run-off election between right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and “leftist” former President Lula da Silva.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us