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

Fraternal fist-bump between gangstas—Fugget about it… (For Allen Ginsberg, my other favorite ‘Jersey Boy’)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
03 Aug 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Fraternal fist-bump between gangstas—Fugget about it…

Fraternal fist-bump between gangstas—Fugget about it…
(For Allen Ginsberg, my other favorite ‘Jersey Boy’)

I.
apartheid state/south of the border/embassy butcherville—
Truth tellers residing in crosshairs everywhere! So what’s with
twitter tizzy; dither ‘bout a lil’ hand-to-hand contact between
Gangstas?
                                                                   Fugget about it…
A fraternal fist bump?
A routine morning dump?
Or a Munchkin coal lump?
A Yankee slugger’s slump?
                                                                   Fugget about it…
Brotherly bungee jump?
Ol’ Schmo playin’ the chump?
nazi party post-Trump?
Or overwork of Ben Crump?
                                                                   Fugget about it…
II.
Ol’ Schmo said he hadda go
Ol’ Schmo said he hadda go—
He said he was gonna make a Pariah of the prince
He said he was gonna make a Pariah of the prince—
But made death merchants more dollaz an’ cents!

Ol’ Schmo said he hadda go
Ol’ Schmo said he hadda go—
He said he was gonna make the prince into a Pariah
He said he was gonna make the prince into a Pariah—
But, look, whose star-spangled trousers is on fiyah?

Ol’ Schmo said, “Nothing will fundamentally change…”
Ol’ Schmo said, “Nothing will fundamentally change…”
C’mon, now’s, the fraternal fist-bump all that strange??

Ol’ Schmo said, Bloody fists don’t give Gangstas COVID-19
Ol’ Schmo said, Bloody fists don’t give Gangstas COVID-19
‘Cause he, the prince, et.al’s—cut from Capitalist Gangrene!

© 2022. 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  and PayPal .

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


More Stories


  • REVIEW ESSAY: A Truncated Story of Black Rebellion, Charisse Burden-Stelly
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    REVIEW ESSAY: A Truncated Story of Black Rebellion, Charisse Burden-Stelly
    23 Jun 2021
    Black violence functioned as both a political challenge to racial domination and a political rationale for both the intensification and normalization of aggressive and pervasive policing in poor Bl
  • Ethiopians Go to the Polls Even After the US Tells Them Not to
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ethiopians Go to the Polls Even After the US Tells Them Not to
    23 Jun 2021
    Many Ethiopians expressed enthusiasm for what they consider the country’s first real, competitive election, writes Ann Garrison.
  • The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
    23 Jun 2021
    "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs…” —Karl Marx
  • US Militarism Kills at Home and Abroad
    Black Alliance For Peace
    US Militarism Kills at Home and Abroad
    23 Jun 2021
    We regard militarism as the antithesis of revolutionary pan-African visions of Africa as a region freed from the destructive legacies of its patriarchal and colonial history.
  • Texas Governor Signs Law to Stop Teachers from Talking about Racism
    Jennifer Bendery
    Texas Governor Signs Law to Stop Teachers from Talking about Racism
    23 Jun 2021
    Texas mandates that its schools see no racism, hear no racism, and teach nothing about racism, racial oppression or racial capitalism. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us