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


  • African American Resistance in the Rural South from the Great Depression to World War II
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    African American Resistance in the Rural South from the Great Depression to World War II
    22 Feb 2023
    Southern farm workers joined in solidarity during the great depression.
  • Canada to Send Navy Ships to Haiti, Trudeau Announces at CARICOM Summit
    Saheli Chowdhury
    Canada to Send Navy Ships to Haiti, Trudeau Announces at CARICOM Summit
    22 Feb 2023
    Canada continues its tradition of interfering in Haiti and subordinating the human rights of its people.
  • USAID: The Humanitarian Face of Colonial Exploitation
    Amanda Yee
    USAID: The Humanitarian Face of Colonial Exploitation
    22 Feb 2023
    The USAID may appear to give a helping hand all over the world, but there are always very dangerous strings attached.
  • Black Agenda Radio February 17, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio February 17, 2023
    17 Feb 2023
    This week we hear about US relations with Nicaragua, and the introductory webinar for the People’s Senate. But first the effort to provide abortion access in Texas, a state which has banned the…
  • The Texas Equal Access Fund Assists with Abortion Services Despite a State Ban
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Texas Equal Access Fund Assists with Abortion Services Despite a State Ban
    17 Feb 2023
    The Texas Equal Access Fund works to expand access to abortion care while simultaneously shifting culture towards reproductive justice.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us