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


  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    15 Apr 2021
    This week the war in Afghanistan was on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Walter Johnson’s “The Broken Heart of America”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Walter Johnson’s “The Broken Heart of America”
    15 Apr 2021
    The Black future is already unfolding under your feet, and the narrow possibility that you might grab ahold of that leading edge of the asphalt and turn it in a different direction.
  •  BAR Book Forum: Tracey L. Walters’ “Not Your Mother’s Mammy”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Tracey L. Walters’ “Not Your Mother’s Mammy”
    15 Apr 2021
    The assumption is these women are uneducated or without skills beyond cleaning or caring for children and adults. 
  • Organizing in the South 
    Joseph B. Atkins 
    Organizing in the South 
    15 Apr 2021
    Strong condemnations from the NAACP and Black Congressional Caucus of Amazon’s treatment of its workers might have made a difference in the strike vote,
  • Reality Police Erase Lesbians, Covid-skeptics and Democracy
    Riva Enteen
    Reality Police Erase Lesbians, Covid-skeptics and Democracy
    15 Apr 2021
    Corporate reality police have stablished themselves as the authorities on what constitutes “information” or “disinformation.”
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us