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

Reclaiming Our Time for the Planet
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
03 Nov 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Reclaiming Our Time for the Planet

                                                                    Reclaiming our time

                                                                       for the Planet…

 

Grand Canyon bathtub rings telling

us the Colorado River’s dropped over

150 feet. Twenty years of drought—And

A wildfire a week; A nor’easter; superstorm;

hurricane; tornado; typhoon; And

tsunami over blackened birds, slimy, gooey,

tar balled waters—obligatory oil spills over

Corporate propaganda cycles—A delicious

recipe for disaster…

Whisker-sized particulate matter’s winning

Air superiority in pumpkin skies. Skies

Bees buzzed decks from; Skies hummingbirds

and butterflies hung out in.

Skies crows dropped from, jamming with

pigeons and spying on stashing/noshing

squirrels. A place you could get a gallon of

unleaded water that smelled drinkable…

This was before Roundup Ready corporate

propaganda cycles ejaculating Satan’s sperm

into our aquifers. Before prioritizing our

Friends by stages/types of cancer they suffer…

No need for nuance here—let’s say it simply—

say it plainly:

the kettle’s been on the back burner whistling

Frantically for decades—Warning of capitalist

immolation…And the world can’t wait…

The world can’t wait…Bassackwards…

for 21st century technology to catch

up with 17th century ideology—can’t

wait in perpetuity on old

mush-mouthed men’s mumblings on markets—

Seventeenth century

catechisms covering 21st century climate crimes…

The world can’t wait…

for more inflated claptrap; more cleverly crafted

lies—more methane promises huffed and puffed—

Killing us softly with their carbon…

 

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

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet;  BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at:  

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

 

Climate Change

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


Related Stories

Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
White Supremacy and Climate Change: A Sinister Symbiosis
19 August 2026
The climate movement will never be effective as long as it refuses to confront white supremacy within its own organizations and as a
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Documents of Disaster and Conferences of Calamity: Rhetorical Questions, Questions of Rhetoric and the Transition  from Fossil Fuels
29 April 2026
The First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels produced a People's Declaration.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
The EPA’s Zero Sum Game Surfaces a Dialectical Paradox That Should Be Celebrated, Not Decried
04 February 2026
The debate over the EPA's new math misses the point.
Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
COP29 Summit Marked by Acrimonious Debate Over Emissions and Finance
27 November 2024
Annual climate gathering reflects divisions between the industrialized states and the Global South.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
If You Want to See White “Supremacy” at Work, Don’t go to a Trump Rally, Observe the Democrats’ Approach to Climate Change
29 May 2024
Despite the undeserved loyalty of Black people to the Democratic Party, lawmakers continue to push policy that ignores concerns about
Children near destroyed solar panels in Gaza
Melissa Garriga
Don’t Let Warmongers Greenwash their Ecocide this Earth Day
24 April 2024
The destruction of the environment and acceleration of the climate crisis happen silently under the veil of “national security,” despite t
Shasta people
Zach Frye
No Green For Go: How Settler-Colonialism Kills More Than Just People
27 March 2024
Settler colonialism has caused the destruction of indigenous lands around the world and, as a result, the environment in which we all live.
Flooding in Somalia
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Climate Profiteers Exploit Somali Suffering
20 December 2023
NGOs and other climate profiteers treat Somalia as a poster child for global warming.
COP 28 Logo
Abayomi Azikiwe
COP28 Summit Concludes with Contradictory Agreement
20 December 2023
Originally published in
Money for Weapons as the World Burns
Vijay Prashad
Money for Weapons as the World Burns
11 May 2022
$100 billion was pledged to assist the Global South amidst the climate change crisis but world wide defense spending now exceeds $2 trilli

More Stories


  • Gustavo Petro Wins in Colombia, 2nd Round Battle Begins
    Orinoco Tribune
    Gustavo Petro Wins in Colombia, 2nd Round Battle Begins
    01 Jun 2022
    The Historic Pact candidates Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez won the first round of the Colombian presidential election but now face conservative candidates in a June 19 runoff.
  • 911 Is a Joke: Preferring to Shoot Unarmed Blacks, Cops Find It Ain't No Fun When the Rabbit Has the Gun
    Jon Jeter
    911 Is a Joke: Preferring to Shoot Unarmed Blacks, Cops Find It Ain't No Fun When the Rabbit Has the Gun
    01 Jun 2022
    Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) began after an LAPD raid on the Black Panthers in 1969 and spread throughout the country. Then as now they neither protect nor serve, as was the case in Uvalde…
  • The Rise of NATO in Africa
    Vijay Prashad
    The Rise of NATO in Africa
    31 May 2022
    NATO is not the defensive alliance of north Atlantic nations that it claims to be. It is a tool of imperialism which has spread its handiwork all over the world, including on the African…
  • The People’s Summit for Democracy Offers a Progressive Vision to Counter U.S. Dominance in the Region
    Sheila Xiao and Manolo De Los Santos
    The People’s Summit for Democracy Offers a Progressive Vision to Counter U.S. Dominance in the Region
    31 May 2022
    The People's Summit for Democracy will be a much needed counterweight to the U.S. dominated Summit of the Americas.
  • Summit of the Americas or Summit of the United States of America?
    Bertony Dupont
    Summit of the Americas or Summit of the United States of America?
    31 May 2022
    The U.S. is using the upcoming Summit of the Americas to bully the rest of the region. The current puppet leader of Haiti must follow U.S. dictates yet is invited, while legitimate leaders…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us