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

…solidarity sounds like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Apr 2019
🖨️ Print Article
movement
this is what solidarity looks like...

I’m a Seoul Man, da-da-da—dat-da-da-da
I’m a Seoul Man, da-da-da—dat-da-da-da
I’m also a Pyongyang, Managua, Manilla,
Teheran Man, too—As opposed to despot
As I am to coup!
When they go high—
Pole dancing palace and peacock throne—
I go low— on my own: grassroots, salt of the earth…
Lookin’ here and there, searchin’ everywhere
for bleach, Windex, Pine Sol scents—
janitors scrubbing toilets, mopping floors;
Lookin’ for blue plumes of forklift fumes—
pallets groaning in harmony with lunch
bucket language of warehouse workers;
Lookin’ for oily mist, machines birthing
stainless steel parts on shop floors;
Listenin’ for punch presses pounding parts
out for machine tools;
Listenin’ for squealing carts of library workers;
Listenin’ for intercoms ordering nurses to stations,
bells releasing teachers to lunch
Lookin’ to stand shoulder to shoulder
with—Workers of the World

I’m a Seoul Man, da-da-da—dat-da-da-da
I’m a Seoul Man, da-da-da—dat-da-da-da
I’m also a Pyongyang, Managua, Manilla,
Teheran Man, too—As opposed to despot
As I am to coup!
When they go high—
Pole dancing palace and peacock throne—
I go low— on my own: grassroots, salt of the earth…
Lookin’ here and there, searchin’ everywhere
Listenin’ for stiffening spine, rattling chain
leaping from guitars and marching to drums;
Lookin’ for ruby banners and fiery pens;
Lookin’ for actors; not dupes and dopes
dangling on dicks of dictators, kleptocrats,
torturers, Czars—like Negroz and liberals
dangled from The Drone Ranger…

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.,br/> Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

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


More Stories


  • Political cartoon
    Jacqueline Luqman
    “It’s the Zionism, Stupid!”
    08 Nov 2023
    It shouldn't need to be said at this late date, but imperialism and settler colonialism are the pertinent issues to address in any discussion of Zionism.
  • Rep Rashida Talib speaking at her censureship hearing
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Gaza War Crimes Make a Mockery of Western "Democracy"
    08 Nov 2023
    The "democracies" of the world don't live up to this concept they claim is so important to them.
  • Lesser evil political cartoon
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Biden is the Greater and Less Effective Evil
    01 Nov 2023
    The trope of lesser evilism has died with the Joe Biden presidency.
  • STOP COP CITY
    Efia Nwangaza
    Smash Kop City Atlanta: A Hub In The National White Supremacist Bulwark for White Minority Rule
    01 Nov 2023
    Atlanta's proposed Cop City project is just the latest iteration of militarized policing which enables state repression.
  • Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly next to her book, Black Scare/Red Scare
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor , Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    BAR Book Forum: Charisse Burden-Stelly’s Book, “Black Scare / Red Scare”
    01 Nov 2023
    This week’s featured author is Charisse Burden-Stelly. Burden-Stelly is Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University. Her book is Black Scare / Red Scare: Theorizing…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us