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

Tuesday Takeout
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
08 Nov 2016
đŸ–šïž Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Terror Tuesday is what the White House calls the basement meetings at which the First Black President profiles and targets individuals and groups of people for summary assassination anywhere from Somalia to Standing Rock. Before Donald Trump even assumes the Oval Office, it's already the new normal.

Tuesday Takeout

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

The Commander has a menu:

Yemeni youth at an outdoor café

Grandmother, grandsons gardening okra

in Afghanistan

Hospital in Pakistan

Menu for us, too:

BP Seafood in Sauce of Crude

Gasoline Spill Soup

Bomb Train Tatar

Baked Buffoon’s overdone—

Stinks—like food poison on a plate;

PTS: Permission To Shudder,

Clinging to crimson combat boots

Of Golda-plated Iron Lady

Haliburton, Boeing, General Dynamic,

Monsanto, Exxon Chefs cut corners,

substitute cuts, pass off overpriced,

over-spiced, sodium-laden,

Empty calorie dishes as democracy

We have a menu too:

To our left, two doors down

Resistance Buffet—new dishes constantly—

Ain’t cheap—but all you can eat—filling,

stick to your ribs, seconds are cool—

Even thirds, fourths
of:

Lunch Counter Sit-in

Mass Meeting

Arab Spring Rolls

Tunisian Salad

Standing Rock Soup

Wildcat Strike

Ferguson Fries

Bus Boycott

Occupy/ Wisconsin Coffee

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016
All Rights Reserved

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. You can find 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


  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Fascism Born in the Colonies, Not Europe
    05 Nov 2025
    Europe refined fascism in its colonies long before bringing the model home.
  • Adele Robichez , JosĂ© Eduardo Bernardes , Larissa Bohrer
    Brazilian Lawmaker From the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement Demands Investigation of “Planned Massacre” That Left 121 Dead
    05 Nov 2025
    The lawmaker states that Governor Cláudio Castro’s operation was “a massacre carried out in secret” and calls for an independent forensic investigation.
  • Roger McKenzie
    The Devastation in Melissa’s Wake and the ‘new normal’
    05 Nov 2025
    Hurricanes might have natural causes, but the tragedy that follows is entirely human-made and a consequence of capitalist greed, asserts Roger McKenzie.
  • Michael F. Brown
    Trump Ambassador Pick Vows to Pressure South Africa Over Gaza Genocide Case
    05 Nov 2025
    The nomination of an ambassador to South Africa who vows to "pressure" the country over its Gaza case confirms that the U.S. considers the practice of following international law to be a punishable

  • book
    Dylan Evans
    Book Review: The Sword and the Neck – Reading the al-Aqsa Flood by Yanis Iqbal
    05 Nov 2025
    Operation Al Aqsa Flood was immediately cast as unprovoked terrorism. This review examines a work that dares to reframe it as the inevitable act of a people pushed to the brink.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us