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


  • Can We Listen to the Voice of the Haitian People?
    Mireille Fanon Mendes France
    Can We Listen to the Voice of the Haitian People?
    17 Mar 2021
    The West’s treatment of Haiti confirms that white supremacy has still not abandoned its plan to impose a racially racist, violent, capitalist and imperial world order.
  •  Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 15, 2021
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 15, 2021
    15 Mar 2021
    Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It
  • Europe and US Now Policing Black Migrants in Africa
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Europe and US Now Policing Black Migrants in Africa
    15 Mar 2021
    To justify US and European military occupation of much of Africa, migrants seeking jobs in the north of the continent or in Europe “are labeled as criminals and terrorists” when they are “just look
  •  Black Is Back Coalition Partners Praise 19-Point Self-Determination Agenda
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Is Back Coalition Partners Praise 19-Point Self-Determination Agenda
    15 Mar 2021
    At a webinar last week, Jericho Movement chairperson Jihad Abdulmumit said the Black Is Back Coalition’s National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination “covers everything,
  •  Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It
    15 Mar 2021
    Community control of police advocates in the Washington, DC region say their approach is the best -- and most democratic – way to achieve both defunding and total abolition of policing as it exists
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us