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


  • Tunde Osazua
    The “Christian Genocide” in Nigeria: An Unmasking of a Neo-Colonial Weapon
    22 Oct 2025
    A false narrative of "Christian genocide" is being weaponized against Nigeria, which is itself victimized by western neo-colonial policies.
  • Imani Nile
    Every Winter, the Bronx Burns
    22 Oct 2025
    The cause of the explosion at Mitchel Houses in the South Bronx harkens back to the arson-for-profit schemes of the 1970s that caused mass destruction of Black and Latine communities. Decades later,…
  • Hanna Eid
    Data Centers and the AI Bubble
    22 Oct 2025
    The A.I. boom is on the verge of bursting like every other capitalist bubble. Financialization and speculation will result in another economic crisis.
  • Chris Gilbert , Cira Pascual Marquina
    ‘Fishing Provides for Everyone’: The Palmarito Afro-Descendant Commune (Part III)
    22 Oct 2025
    On the southern shore of Lake Maracaibo, communards sustain themselves by fishing, but just as much through practices of solidarity.
  • Francisco Dominguez , Roger D. Harris , John Perry
    Imperial Double Standards: Warfare for Venezuela and Welfare for Argentina
    22 Oct 2025
    The western response to crises in Venezuela and Argentina reveals a stark double standard. One nation faces economic pressure and isolation, while the other receives financial support.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us