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


  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 21, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 21, 2021
    21 Jun 2021
    Make Black Lives Matter Fund-Raising Socially Accountable
  •  Reefer Legalization “Not Good” for Revolution, Says New York Lawmaker
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Reefer Legalization “Not Good” for Revolution, Says New York Lawmaker
    21 Jun 2021
    Although he’s glad recently passed marijuana legislation will halt arrests for possession and expunge criminal records, NY State Assemblyman and former Black Panther Charles Barron
  •  G7 is a Neocolonial Cabal
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    G7 is a Neocolonial Cabal
    21 Jun 2021
    The recently concluded summit meeting of so-called G7 nations revealed them once again to be nothing “but a cabal and gangsters” bent on “maintaining neocolonial rule” of the planet, said R
  •  Make Black Lives Matter Fund-Raising Socially Accountable
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Make Black Lives Matter Fund-Raising Socially Accountable
    21 Jun 2021
    “Finance capital doesn’t fund liberation movements,” said Dr Joy James, the Williams College Humanities professor who moderated a recent Accountability in Social Justice Movements
  • Freedom Ride: How Not to Celebrate Juneteenth
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Ride: How Not to Celebrate Juneteenth
    16 Jun 2021
    Juneteenth has become the latest iteration of liberal capture of Black politics, opportunistic virtue signaling, and the intentional misrepresentation of America’s history.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us