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

Justice was served from Warfare States’ gaslit woks
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
29 Apr 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Justice was served from Warfare States’ gaslit woks
Justice was served from Warfare States’ gaslit woks

Justice was served
sweet and sour in pepper spray soup—tear-
gas gumbo—tears mixed with milk and milk
of magnesia in crimson curry sauce;
Served from warfare states’ woks on
beds of ‘rubber’ bullets/flash-bang grenades

Justice was served
on baton-bruised ribs; golfball-sized wounds;
contusions, abrasions—And platters of 

plastic cuffs, eyeballs, teeth, reconstructive
surgeries; rehabs on hunks of ‘less lethal’ lies…
Served on blistered feet, strained calves and quads

Justice was served 
class struggle-style—from Warfare States’ 
Gaslit woks—
Stir fry served from massive motion stirred
up from below, garnished by shoe leather-
sautéd streets over the planet…

Justice was served 
on shards of glass in street heat salad;
Served by bold, brave, creative young
Chefs—aged in organizing: Marching
months; succulent and simmering for
class-struggle…

Justice was served
from poison blue soil: world’s greatest purveyor
of violence—Served scooped, flipped, framed with
flimsy charges; Served from
Rotten Orchards—
One ‘bad apple’ at a time…

Justice was served
Sizzling Black bean sauce; rainbow chard; with
white chocolate dessert served by seasoned young
Chefs learning their craft: Smelling fishy five-sided 
solutions—culinary coercion—Young chefs learning
to rock the wok—with tantalizing takeout menus…

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

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


  • US Secretary of State Under Pressure to Disclose Bombshell Afghanistan Cables
    The Cradle
    US Secretary of State Under Pressure to Disclose Bombshell Afghanistan Cables
    10 May 2023
    Anthony Blinken has refused to hand over cables in which US embassy officials warned of an imminent Taliban victory weeks before Washington's botched withdrawal.
  • Black Agenda Radio May 5, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 5, 2023
    05 May 2023
    Protest in France, gentrification in Philadelphia, and school safety and achievement.
  • Mass Protest in France
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Mass Protest in France
    05 May 2023
    Philippe Gendrault, Ph.D. is a mental health provider committed to the anti-racist, anti-imperialist struggle for social and political justice. He joins us from San Francisco to discuss the…
  • The Struggle Against the Proposed Arena in Philadelphia's Chinatown
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Struggle Against the Proposed Arena in Philadelphia's Chinatown
    05 May 2023
    Asantewaa Nkrumah Ture is an organizer with the Philadelphia Tenants Union. She joins us to talk about the plans to build a new NBA arena in that city’s Chinatown, which that community and its allies…
  • School Safety for Black Students
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    School Safety for Black Students
    05 May 2023
    Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. is an Executive-in-Residence for the School of Education at American University and a former superintendent of Alexandria, Virginia public schools.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us