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

PIMP: Paper In Militarists’ Pockets (Business as usual…)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
24 Mar 2021
🖨️ Print Article
PIMP: Paper In Militarists’ Pockets (Business as usual…)
PIMP: Paper In Militarists’ Pockets (Business as usual…)

$13 billion aircraft carriers, $10 pencils
and $500 hammers, renamed “portable
hand-held transcribing devices” and
“impact fasteners;” so war-profiteer pimps—war
lords of Wall Street—can prance the planet with
Pockets looking like they’ve got the mumps!
Mirrored by their henchmen—
gold-braided, junk metal chested generals—and
Schmo Bidens, Schmuck Cheneys, Slick Willys, 
Ws, Boss Tweets, Drone Rangers…of The Game…
When they go high…
We
Go
low

Mideast wars: trillions and counting—still,
the sky’s the limit for finding fire-breathing
dragons threatening our freedoms—freedoms
flowing through pipelines 8,000 miles away…
Still, the sky’s the limit bankrolling Egyptian, Israeli,
Jordanian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Lebanese, Latvian,
Estonian, Polish, Filipino, Tunisian cutthroat/thugs…
When they go high…
We
Go
low

NEWSFLASH: Ol’ Blak Schmo just struck Syria,
Killing twenty-two, remaking his bones looking  
presidential…
NEWSFLASH: swinging rhythms of hammers, 
hip harmonies of saws bent on housing the un-
housed are renegade in The Game—outta pocket—
“Cost too much” for guerrilla pimps…in The Game
When they go high…
We
Go
low…

“Universal single-payer healthcare for all?! 
What you hoes been smoking?! Who the hell 
gonna pay for it?!”
When they go high…
We
Go
low…

“A Green New Deal?! We’ll slap the taste out
your mouths —the only ‘Green New Deal’ you
gettin’ tastes like the backs of our dead president-
Filled hands!!” 
When they go high…
We
Go
low…

“Cancel student debt?!  Scurvy bitches, you 
outta pocket—you know the rules of The Game!!”
When they go high…
We
Go
low…

“$15 an hour minimum wage?! What?!
Have you lot lizards lost your damn minds?!”
When they go high…
We
Go
low…

“Guaranteed annual income?! Why, if you
sluts don’t shut the fuck up you’ll be wearing
three shoes—two on your feet and one up…!!”
When they go high…
We
Go
low…
When they go high…
We
Go
low…
In the race
to
the
Bottom…

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Seven surgeries…

Seven surgeries and missing left leg
later, her gnarled left hand still sends
signals her missing fingers can’t act on—
And she can’t write right-handed…
These are just a few of her least favorite things
about the warfare state of warlords of Wall Street

Left eye blind; left ear deaf; Still he has
surround sound nightmares with
weaponized impotence. And guerrilla
guilt ambushes him in broad daylight—
since his kills are no longer Lombardi Trophies…
And his family practiced ‘social-distancing’
long before physical-spacing was misnamed
during the pandemic…
These are just a few of his least favorite things
about the warfare state of warlords of Wall Street

These are just a few of their least favorite things
about the warfare state of warlords of Wall Street
These are just a few of their least favorite things
about the powder sugar platitudes politicians
parrot—repeat ad nauseam—at press conferences
And from FOX-boxes: (5 X)
“Boots on the ground,” “in harm’s way,” “friendly 
fire,” “god bless our brave fighting men and women
around the world…”
© 2021. 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

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

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


  • Women in Nicaragua: Power and Protagonism – Delegation Report-Back (January 2023)
    Alliance for Global Justice
    Women in Nicaragua: Power and Protagonism – Delegation Report-Back (January 2023)
    25 Jan 2023
    The United States has targeted Nicaragua ever since the days of Ronald Reagan. Members of a recent delegation made observations that are far different from hostile narratives presented by the U.S.…
  • EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says that calling Israel an apartheid state is anti-Semitic. 
    Ali Abunimah
    EU Says It’s Anti-Semitic to Call Israel an Apartheid State
    25 Jan 2023
    EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says that calling Israel an apartheid state is anti-Semitic.
  • Black Agenda Radio January 20, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio January 20, 2023
    20 Jan 2023
    The Biden administration provokes Russia in the Ukraine proxy war while simultaneously threatening China. Ken Roth was denied a Harvard fellowship due to mild criticism of Israel while he served as…
  • Biden's Dangerous Foreign Policy
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Biden's Dangerous Foreign Policy
    20 Jan 2023
    Dr. Gerald Horne joins us in a wide ranging discussion about the dangers of U.S. foreign policy. Joe Biden is waging a proxy war against Russia while also antagonizing China.
  • Palestine, Censorship, and Punishment
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Palestine, Censorship, and Punishment
    20 Jan 2023
    Ali Abunimah is Director of electronicantifada.net, an independent online news publication and educational resource focusing on Palestine. He is also the author of One Country and The Battle for…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us