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

Salute To Shift Holders! (Down With Boss Tweet!)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Jan 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Salute To Shift Holders!  (Down With Boss Tweet!)

He’s, obviously, not a New Yorker,
riding trains 4 and 5 in the morning.
Trains packed with hoodie-crowned;
shuttered chocolate, mocha, peanut
butter, caramel, coffee-colored faces—
Lunch bucket UN—palpable power,
Grabbing their last Zs, before Shifts
Holding levers, running the city.

He, obviously, gets no coffee,
street snacks, scarves, gloves,
posters, CDs, DVDs, caps, T-shirts
from carts and stands tourists treasure;
Carts and stands powered by African, Asian,
Latin American, Caribbean, Middle Eastern labor…

Lord knows he’s never been
to bodegas named Ameer's,
or Branson’s juice bar,
or the Texas Star,
Tarboosh, Nanoosh,
Cafe One, Clove, Dig Inn,
or Peace Food—where
Workers from plundered countries
Toil—countries Boss Tweet dissed!
Eateries where workers break bread,
rub shoulders, swap stories: U.S. bases,
Blood-soaked “boots on the ground,” Coups,
Death squads, decomposing bodies, bullets,
Bombs, missiles chasing families from
smoldering homelands…“in harm’s way”

Tweet’s just a paper towel-tossing,
beetle-brained, feces-faced
Clown, giving cover to 1%
Pickpockets working the crowd—
Look for him in the sewer…
Days when all trains empty at
City Hall and Wall Street…

Raymond Nat Turner © 2018 All Rights Reserved

Our poet in residence, Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

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


More Stories


  • Ramzy Baroud
    The Price of Impunity in Gaza: Is This Israel’s Day of Reckoning?
    22 Jan 2025
    The war crimes committed by Israeli soldiers have not gone unnoticed by the rest of the world. After over a year of proudly displaying their dirty deeds on social media, these war criminals are now…
  • Alexander Rubinstein
    Black Money, Black Flags: How USAID Paved the Way for Syria’s Militant Takeover
    22 Jan 2025
    The United States leverages soft power through NGOs such as USAID. In Syria, USAID operated as a channel to help maintain relations with terrorist groups and facilitate regime change through the…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio January 17, 2025
    17 Jan 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the incoming Donald Trump administration, why Trump was elected again, and what we may be able to expect in his term. But first, we begin with discussing a new…
  • Gerald Horne
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Gerald Horne: African Americans & A New History of the US
    17 Jan 2025
    Dr. Gerald Horne is an author and historian who currently holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. Dr. Horne is a prolific…
  • Anthony Monteiro
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Anthony Monteiro on Trump's Inauguration and U.S. Politics
    17 Jan 2025
    Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a Duboisian scholar and founder of the Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation. He joins us from Philadelphia to discuss the upcoming inauguration of Donald…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us