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

Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
08 Jan 2020
🖨️ Print Article
Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?
Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?

This Orange Age outrage—
Reich of the child’s cage
Cancer at fourth stage—
Rogue state’s rampage…
is a tiny blip on capitalism’s 
Continuum…
Its hypnotic ebb and flow,
distilled decades of woe—
decades of darkness,
Slowly bend in scalding
magma, bubbling up from below…
Sorry for the inconvenience—
the beginning is near…
Sweeping in the Roaring ‘20s…

Was it a Night in Tunisia? 
Ferguson? Occupy? Palestine? 
Baltimore? Madison?
A single spark in the dark
setting off prairie fire?
Was it Standing Rock, ‘Red’
State teachers’ strikes? Was it
the tick of Time’s Up-Me Too? The
Howl of climate chaos—Extinction 
Rebellion—Or harmony 
of… “All the above…”
Sweeping in the Roaring ‘20s?

Tsunamis of struggle sweep
World streets into 99% gyms—
Core/cardio spaces building big hearts;
Strength training, flexing, stretching—
muscling up militant mass movements
Against corporate olympics: Race to the 
bottom!
Strength training, squeezing concessions
from barbarians in Brooks Brothers suits
and other capitalist costumes—
Sweeping in the Roaring ‘20s!

No Charleston, flappers, speakeasies.
No bootleg liquor. Fewer pain dulling
shots. Less low sodium tears in beer…
Militant mass action’s tonic and gin—
Magic potion; prayer; voodoo—and a 
Vote for the lesser of evils…
“Happy Hour’s” the 99% cheering
favorite forms of 
Resistance on bars’ big screens—
Sweeping in the Roaring ‘20s
Sweeping in the Roaring ‘20s…

© 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com .

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

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

Israeli sniper prepares to implement the piece process.
Raymond Nat Turner , BAR poet-in-residence
Piece Process
23 May 2018
Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze it’s a joy-stick; a video game to him He has orders to “light up” anything that moves;

More Stories


  • Austerity and Mass Murder: An American Pastime
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Austerity and Mass Murder: An American Pastime
    15 Sep 2021
    The race to the bottom is an imperative of austerity, which is foundational to the history of state violence in the U.S.
  • Durban and 9/11: The Implications for a New Politics of Resistance
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Durban and 9/11: The Implications for a New Politics of Resistance
    15 Sep 2021
    Another twenty-year anniversary is the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) that took place in Durban, South Africa between August 31, and September 8. The George W.
  • The Gorgon Staring at You
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Gorgon Staring at You
    15 Sep 2021
    U.S. wars in foreign countries always come home.
  • Racial Prejudice in Cuba
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Racial Prejudice in Cuba
    15 Sep 2021
    Contemporary conversations about racism in Cuba appear to have forgotten what it was like for Africans on the island republic before the Revolution.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    For My Friend Keasley (Autumn and E-Crew, 25/22)
    15 Sep 2021
    For My Friend Keasley (Autumn and E-Crew, 25/22) I. In my mind—and sometimes sub-vocally—I say his name  almost every day.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us