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

Save The Overtime…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Sep 2018
this is what we do as cops
in praise of rotten apples and police overtime

“…hear me now, five, four, three, two, one…

Runnin' to the door, peepin' out the window
Hopin' to see only you
Listenin’ for the phone, checkin' out the tick tock
Countin' if it's a certain time
Darling, don't stay away too long
Pretty baby, I know you're working hard for me
Darling, baby, don't stay away too long
Pretty baby, save the overtime…”

Thin blue line of condoms
Protecting, serving our
finest in harm’s way—
Hot pursuit—wetly, warmly
fearing for their safety:
Chlamydia, Herpes,
Gonorrhea—scornful
shrieks of wives—keeping
Sex in the city safe…

It’s a tough job—but
someone must Just do
It under capitalism—
When not firing 41
shots in vestibules;
Ignoring pleas, “I
can’t breathe…”
Tackling cyclists;
Kettle-ing marchers,
Crushing Occupy;
Breaking strikes; putting
cases on people—planting
contraband and throwaway
Guns…
Writing fiction, acting
Shakespearean—
Testi-lying in court…
imagining men and women upstate

Today, they threw a few into the
fire until the next sizzling scandal
of Red Squad surveillance, Mosque
crawlers, dirty ‘detectives,’ street
Executions by walking-hate crimes…

But who was crossed in the wicked
world where useless thugs are
Untouchable, and the few good men
and women with spines are ‘rats?’

Whose palm went un-greased?
Whose beak was left bone dry in
the fraternal order of Vitamin S—
Nips-fueled failed jocks, sadists,
Killers, bullies back from free-
fire zones in oil wars?

Maybe, OverTime’s up—
for a “few bad apples…”
from a rotten orchard?

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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

policing

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


Related Stories

jackson ms
Adofo Minka
Jackson MS: Police Killings Continue Amid Mayoral Silence in the "Most Radical City on the Planet"
15 February 2018
In the last few months Jackson's supposedly radical mayor has lifted residency requirements for city police officers, and remained silent o

More Stories


  • The United States is Organizing a Color Revolution in Cuba for November 15
    Alan MacLeod
    The United States is Organizing a Color Revolution in Cuba for November 15
    02 Nov 2021
    The U.S. continues its brazen attacks against the Cuban people, having announced its role in upcoming "protests" taking place on November 15.
  • Bolivia's president Luis Arce used the COP26 summit to speak against the "green capitalism" offered by the rich capitalist nations and in favor of alternatives which put humanity at the center.
    Brett Wilkins
    Bolivian President Warns 'Carbon Colonialism' Won't Solve Climate Crisis
    02 Nov 2021
    Bolivia's president Luis Arce used the COP26 summit to speak against "green capitalism" offered by the rich capitalist nations and in favor of alternatives which put humanity at the center.
  • Don’t Ignore the 2021 Tribunal on Genocide
    Salifu Mack
    Don’t Ignore the 2021 Tribunal on Genocide
    02 Nov 2021
    The International Tribunal on US Human Rights Abuses against Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples declared that the U.S.
  • British Soldiers on the Beach at Dunkirk - Cassowary Colorizations
    Nu'man Abd al-Wahid
    Decolonising Dunkirk – Genocidal White Supremacists at War with Each Other
    02 Nov 2021
    The history of World War II often repeats the narrative of good vs. bad Europeans. In reality, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium perpetrated as many atrocities as the Germans.
  • Russell “Maroon” Shoatz is Free, But Other Political Prisoners Languish
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Russell “Maroon” Shoatz is Free, But Other Political Prisoners Languish
    27 Oct 2021
    The demand for freedom of political prisoners must be consistently made for their sakes and for all at risk of joining them in the future.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us