Our ‘democracy’

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

23 Jul 2021

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Our ‘democracy’

Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne-
caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who
Pay nothing for water washing their waste to sewage
treatment plants; Roads delivering their indulgences
to gated palaces; Schools researching their earthly
strategies for class war—and cunning space escapes!

“Our democracy:”
Nirvana where voting’s a work day—special Olympics—
dehydrating decathlon jumping through Jim Crow hoops;
climbing confederate concertina wired walls; hurdling
Apartheid pass laws; scaling polling place pitchforks;
And vaulting oiled obstacles to $elect slippery senators,
compromised congressmen deep in corporate pockets

“Our democracy:”
Oz of lynch mob mad white men—lawless law enforcers—
Drunken devil assassins storming Capitalist Hill with to-
die lists half-mile long; Armed actors acting out Birth of
A Nation fantasies with impunity. Yes, “Our democracy:”
greasy-thumb superheroes, bareback, backwards on dis-
abled donkeys braying platitudes every two-four years.
Charlatans causing us to shudder and doubt ourselves…

“Our democracy:”
By the power of Poetic License granted me to practice
Poetry in Empire and Golden States
hereby grant you permission to call “Our democracy” a
Corporatocracy, autocracy, kleptocracy, plutocracy—even
White minority warfare state. By the power of Poetic License
granted me to practice poetry in Empire and Golden States I
hereby grant you permission
To pimp slap and kick to the curb anyone as old as I am caught
babbling ‘bout “Our democracy…” Effective until we are freed to
Vote directly for the generals: General Atomics, General Dynamics,
General Electric, General Motors, General Mills…© 2021.

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