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

Deliver us from lesser evil…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Sep 2018
🖨️ Print Article
deliver us from lesser evil
front row at Aretha's funeral

Star-struck, in childlike

awe of celestial

Voices, silver tongues;

I spent seven hours

glued to the screen—

back in the Baptist Church,

Celebrating, honoring the

humanitarian, North Star

Shero—genius in her field!

What a day, imbibing

Mighty Black Music!

Joyful noise, Lake Michigan-

sized magnet, gathering forces

elbow to elbow—

Enemies, Orange Age

Allies on the clock…

Basking in reflected light,

Assassins, informants, jailers,

Mouthpieces, mass murderers,

super predators, slutty professors

came riding, riding, riding, riding

bare-back, backwards on a

Donkey to The D.

Riding in corporate coats

of many logos—then

Limboing their way

Center stage, tracking

donkey dung down the

red carpet; playing

our emotions, our

Souls, our strength—

our Achilles’ heel

like plastic kazoos:

resurrecting the

Democratic Party…

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Our poet in residence, Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed performing 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.


More Stories


  • Lost Opportunity, Lost Lives
     Lisa Armstrong
    Lost Opportunity, Lost Lives
    01 Jul 2021
    Prison officials could have prevented sickness and death by releasing those who were most vulnerable to coronavirus and least likely to reoffend — older incarcerated people.
  • JuneTeenth: A Marxist Perspective 
    Scott Cooper
    JuneTeenth: A Marxist Perspective 
    01 Jul 2021
    As long as capitalism exists, the capitalists will seek to elevate some people and denigrate others, sowing divisions to deflect attention away from a common enemy.
  • Rock-A-Bye Baby: The Anesthetizing Effects of Political Concessions
     joshua briond
    Rock-A-Bye Baby: The Anesthetizing Effects of Political Concessions
    01 Jul 2021
    The response to Black rebellion are all distinct types of “reforms” to politically sedate Black surplus populations and sustain white settler-capitalist hegemony. 
  • Black Liberal, Your Time is Up
    Yannick Giovanni Marshall
    Black Liberal, Your Time is Up
    01 Jul 2021
    You are here to show your black skin so that you can claim the mantle of authority on anti-Blackness that white liberals have bestowed upon you.
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 28, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 28, 2021
    30 Jun 2021
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 28, 2021 US Acting as “Rogue State” in Shutting Down Iranian News Site
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us