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
  • omnibus

State of the Union—or state of Capitalist decay?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Mar 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Donald Trump State of the Union
Photo: ABC News

“Every man for himself
and the devil take the hindmost.”

Something’s soothing, lobotomizing, about the snotty
Voice flooding from Fox-boxes. Something’s
Lobotomizing about an ignorant comedian coming to
Kill—but bombing—yet, still killing …

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists—
Springing up at every absurd utterance and
Thunder of rattling rubbish. Their hand bones
Fracturing from clapping so damn loud—so long …

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists
Springing up like they got the Holy Ghost! Fits of
Ecstasy applauding poor people used as props—
Mascots—human shields for class war’s unpopular policies

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists
Springing up, sane-washing a lipsticked pig. And face-
Lifting lies about capitalism’s impossible promises to
The People …

Forked tongue tour de force— False from beginning to
End. 1hour, 40 minute Mussolini masterpiece. Il DOGE
Smashed Dr. Goebbels’ Guinness Book of Records for
Orwellian wizardry: misinformation/disinformation/1/2 truths/big lies.

Barren make believe desert. Echo chamber of hollow mockery—
Hypocrisy, humbuggery/thuggery, treachery, treason, truth-less-
Ness and alternative facts where up is down. Bad’s good. Worse
Is better. Woke's worrisome/and straw’s spun orange into fools gold …

Leaning in, listening to bosh-laden blizzards of fabrications—
Falsifications— bleached bone white lies—but not eating the
Dogma does cause trauma. Trauma of two car crashes;
Three boxing matches; And four NFL and hockey games …

Blitzkrieg! Warp speed war on the working-class—
Moving fast! Breaking things! Things shoe leather, steel spines,
Blood and grit won working people long, long ago.
Things we long to make more muscular, more robust. And for all …

© 2025. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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


  • NYPD gang database
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    NYPD Gang Database Targets Young Black and Latino Men
    28 Feb 2025
    Proposed legislation in the New York City Council, Intro 798, seeks to dismantle the NYPD’s Gang Database, ensuring that individuals unjustly labeled as “gang members” receive notice and access to…
  • Gaza
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Gaza and the West Bank Under Attack After the Ceasefire
    28 Feb 2025
    The ceasefire in Gaza has not ended the suffering of the people there or in the West Bank. The violent occupation against Palestinians continues.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Ukraine, War Propaganda, and the Return of Russiagate
    26 Feb 2025
    We must be able to acknowledge that Donald Trump has created a serious constitutional crisis while also recognizing that changing the U.S. relationship with Russia is groundbreaking and a necessity.
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Who Protects the People from the Human Rights Protectors?
    26 Feb 2025
    Can Palestinians get a little Humanitarian Intervention?
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    LETTER: An Open Letter to My Sister, Miss Angela Y. Davis, James Baldwin, 1970
    26 Feb 2025
    James Baldwin on white madness–and Black resistance.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us