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
Piece Process
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
23 May 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Israeli sniper prepares to implement the piece process.
Israeli sniper prepares to implement the piece process.

Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze
it’s a joy-stick; a video game to him
He has orders to “light up” anything that moves;
“Mow the grass, one blade at a time…” “One shot,
one kill…”
So far, he’s bagged a man on crutches, 3 disabled, 2 children

Azriel stalks victims in the valley of death; studies
them through his scope; taking careful aim; punching
tight little holes in heads and torsos—distant targets—
They’re sudden spray, pink haze floating above spots
where they stood. No regret. No sorrow for families…

A plume of black smoke from flaming tires curls
into his crosshairs, his snake eyes nesting in sand—
a nano second too late—
Another child’s head ‘clashes’
with a butterfly bullet from a
football field away—
Crimson skull fragments
explode from the grapefruit-sized exit wound;
Spent cartridges, his ‘kill brass,’ pile up in the
sand…
Ah, the rules of engagement
What’s bone, arteries—another amputated leg—
got to do with it/the piece process: shoot one man,
Terrify a thousand? Don’t ‘our’ finest train there?

poerty

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

Related Stories

Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?
08 January 2020
This Orange Age outrage— Reich of the child’s cage Cancer at fourth stage— Rogue state’s rampage…

More Stories

  • The Ongoing Covid Disaster
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Ongoing Covid Disaster
    23 Mar 2022
    Pollsters have advised Joe Biden to declare covid over. But the pandemic revealed all the shortcomings of a political system which is dedicated to austerity and to protecting capitalist…
  • Ukraine: War and the Challenge of Human Rights in the United States and Beyond
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Ukraine: War and the Challenge of Human Rights in the United States and Beyond
    23 Mar 2022
    The U.S. justifies wars of aggression in the name of human rights. The term has no meaning domestically either, as the people's needs are subordinated to those of the ruling class.
  • MANIFESTO: The Gary Declaration: Black Politics at the Crossroads, 1972
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    MANIFESTO: The Gary Declaration: Black Politics at the Crossroads, 1972
    23 Mar 2022
    In 1972, thousands of Black people met in Gary, Indiana to establish a political and economic platform that would influence the US presidential elections. The document from this meeting, The National…
  • Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Biden has Money for War, but Not for the Poor
    23 Mar 2022
    Joe Biden and congress have plenty of money for the military industrial complex, but only austerity for the people. The imperialist machine is always fed.
  • A war is not a war…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    A war is not a war…
    23 Mar 2022
                                                         
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us