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

Imagine: The Town Crier’s Cabinet Selections
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
16 Dec 2020
🖨️ Print Article
Imagine: The Town Crier’s Cabinet Selections
Imagine: The Town Crier’s Cabinet Selections

Cut plastic cuffs from
imaginations—
Dream larger
in dire situations…
IMAGINE every cook governing—
every governor cooking up people
puzzles—right livelihood alchemy…

Imagine noble collective leadership
Not repeatedly recycled
depleted uranium mummies buried
in bowels of the War House; Imagine
more than revolving door robots…

Cut plastic cuffs from
imaginations—
Dream larger
in dire situations…
IMAGINE every cook governing—
every governor cooking up people
puzzles—right livelihood alchemy…

Imagine grand collective leadership—
Not white phosphorus ghosts
haunting Capitalist Hill—
Not lawless low Barr, Silly Putty
puppets dangling on dicks of dictators:

Attorney Generals:
Larry E. Williams; Walter Riley; Michael Steven Smith; Heidi Boghosian;
Flint Taylor; Soffiyah Elijah; Fania Davis; Ben Crump; Karen Musalo…

Secretariat of Health and Human Services:
Steffie Woolhandler; Michael Lenoir; Margaret Flowers; Ahimsa Porter Sumchai;
September Williams; Nadia Marsh; Marc Sapir; Priscilla Hindmann; Jill Stein…

Secretariat of Housing and Urban Development:
Nellie Bailey; Wiley Cunningham; Caroll Fife; Lisa Gray-Garcia; Oliver Burke;
Janelle Orsi; Miguel Muteado Silencio…

Secretariat of Agriculture:
Jen Mendoza; Velia Perez; Ruth Faircloth; Tammy Parkes; Dominic Ware;
Malik Yakini; Greg Asbed…

Secretariat of Labor:
Karen Lewis; Sarah Nelson; The Real Clarence Thomas; Brenda Stokley; Cherrie Murphy; Ken Riley; Veena Dubal; Tim Hall; Chris Silvera; Larry Goldbetter; Tim Sheard; Steve Gilbert; Steve Zeltzer; Jack Heyman; Harold Welton; Topaz DuBois…

Secretariat of Education:
Donna Murch; Bill Ayers; Henry Giroux; Betty Olson Jones; Johanna Fernandez; Jonathan Kozol; Kitty Kelly Epstein; Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor; Russell Dale; K.C. Nat Turner…

Administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency:
Tara Houska; Marsha Coleman-Adebayo; Naomi Klein…

Secretariat of Energy:
Madonna Thunder Hawk; Jo Ann Tall; Autumn Peltier; Naelyn Pike; Tokata
Iron Eyes; Antonia Juhasz…

Secretariat of the Treasury:
Rick Wolff; Michael Hudson; Nomi Prins…

Secretariat of Homeland Security:
Leonard Peltier; Pam Africa; Kali Akuno; Ramona Africa; Dequi Kioni-Sadik; Tamika Mallory; Medea Benjamin…

Secretary of Veterans Affairs:
Chip Fitzgerald; Mumia Abu Jamal; Laura Whitehorn; Anne Lamb; Sekou Odinga;
Russell Maroon Shoats; Kevin Cooper; David Gilbert; Ralph Poynter; Carl Dix…

Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency:
Chelsea Manning; Bunnatine "Bunny" H. Greenhouse; Daniel Ellsberg; Reality Winner…

Directors of National Intelligence:
Gerald Horne; Angela Davis; Chris Hedges; Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz…

Secretariat of State:
Assata Shakur; Edward Snowden; Vijay Prashad; Linda Sarsour…

FCC Commissioners:
Amy Goodman; Glen Ford; Davey D Cook; Juan Gonzalez; Jared Ball; David Cay Johnston; Mimi Rosenberg; Robert McChesney; Michael G. Haskins; Thandisizwe Chimurenga…

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

 

My Wise Country Cousin on: de MAGnifcent Sebben meetin’ 

Bet you thank de Sharlitun Possey ridin’ a’gin big news to me?
I tolt you years ago… “Keep yo’ eyes on de Blak Boozewazee!”
Dem korprit Negroz rode in to see Ol’ Blak Schmo an’ Ladee Blu—
To fin’ out jes' whut Tio Tomas an’ de big bosses wan’ ‘em to do…

Dem Negroz rode in barebak an’ bakwuds on dey lil ol’ donkees—
2 hrs. latur dey shufflin’ an’ ‘Han’ Jibin’ lak de Three Monkees…
Ol’ Sharlitun grin, “Now, we don’ wanna take de poleece away—
An’ lawd Jeezus know dat we ain’t about ta mess wit dey pay!”
“Y’all see dis’ lil donkee—he low to de groun’—he mountabull?
Well, we jes’ axin’ dat de poleece promus dey’ll be akountabull…”

He say, “We’ll stop dat millitunt cownrow chik an’ de Mooselum gal!”
Souf Calina's kingmakur say, “Why, dats jes’ why we calt on you, Al…”
Den dey rode off, Cristal halos, bludshot eyes frum ober-indulgin’… 
30 pieces ob silbur  gleamin’ an’ bran nu saddulbags… bulgin’…

© 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 https://www.youtube.com/user/zigilow

COMMENTS?

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

poetry

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Pa
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                       
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who

More Stories


  • Commemorating Gabriel's Rebellion at the African Burial Ground in Richmond, Virginia
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Commemorating Gabriel's Rebellion at the African Burial Ground in Richmond, Virginia
    30 Sep 2022
    Ana Edwards is Chair of the Virginia Defenders Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project in Richmond, Virginia. She joins us to discuss the 20th annual Gabriel Gathering scheduled for October 10…
  • Qualified Immunity for Police and the Death of Andrew Joseph III
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Qualified Immunity for Police and the Death of Andrew Joseph III
    30 Sep 2022
    Dr. Melina Abdullah is Co-Founder and Director of Black Lives Matter Grassroots. She joins us from Los Angeles to discuss the 2014 death of Andrew Joseph III and the issue of qualified immunity for…
  • Biden Lies at the United Nations
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden Lies at the United Nations
    28 Sep 2022
    U.S. presidents routinely violate international law and the United Nations Charter. Yet every year they appear before that body and proclaim American innocence.
  • On the International Day of Peace September 21st, The U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination Reaffirmed Its’ Commitment to the Weapon of War
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    On the International Day of Peace September 21st, The U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination Reaffirmed Its’ Commitment to the Weapon of War
    28 Sep 2022
    "End Racism: Build Peace" was the theme of the 2022 International Day of Peace. That noble sentiment can't be realized when powerful white supremacist structures are committed to practicing hegemony.
  • COMMENTARY: The Audacity of Hopelessness, John Maxwell, 2009
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    COMMENTARY: The Audacity of Hopelessness, John Maxwell, 2009
    28 Sep 2022
    The late Jamaican journalist John Maxwell on imperialism, underdevelopment, and the foreign love affair with Haiti’s misery.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us