People Power (Or 30 min. men and women every 4 yrs?)

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

02 Dec 2020

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The People earned a dancing in the
streets day, horn honking, slogan
shouting day—collective sigh/exhale
of relief day…Yes, The People deserve
A day of celebration— just remember:
It took
71 searing street heat days—Amazons
of tears, Mississippis of blood, bowling
alleys of eyeballs/teeth—lost in teargas
tornadoes, pepper spray tsunamis, rubber
bullet reign beneath COVID clouds to finally
lower stars and bars; to pull slavers faces
from white supremacist pedestals; to arrest
and charge wild boers; to expose low Barr
to bunker Boss Tweet…
It took
60 days of Occupy pregnant with revolt
to birth 99%/1% class struggle language

It took
381 blistered feet, carpooling, ride sharing
days—boycotting Montgomery busses for
Apartheid transportation—for that stream
of Jim Crow to flow into history’s sewer…
It took
striking SF State students 134 days of
struggle for first scream and afterbirth
of Black Studies rousing Turtle Island
It took
5 days of Watts bloodletting for a slight
trickle of scholarships…3 years later…

It took
2 political parties—30 minutes/4years—
Sandmen singing—“$campaign-$election
$ongs:” 1,459 days asleep—bedtime songs of
Voting out Y with X. Making magic openings!
Building raging bonfires, holding Boeing’s business
agents’, Raytheon’s representatives’ “feet to the fire…”

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at https://www.youtube.com/user/zigilow

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