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

Wizard of Oz redux— …and some casting questions…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
24 Aug 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Wizard of Oz redux—  …and some casting questions…

                                                                                                                     Wizard of Oz redux—

                                                                                                            …and some casting questions…

Suppose Hollywood hits you up
‘bout this big budget redo of
The Wizard of Oz? What if they
say it’s all your call…’cept this?

They say you must shoot in Uvalde
using locals. No big name stars. Do you say
“OK” when they say, “And you must cast the
Cops?” Or, do you ask—“What as?”

Angry Apple Tree? Crows in the Corn
Field? Ozmites? Tin Polishers? Horse
of Another Color? Almira Gulch’s bi
cycle?

Lullaby League? Lollipop Guild? Scare
crow? Sleepyheads? Munchkin Fiddlers?
Munchkin Soldiers? Munchkin Barristers?
Munchkin Mayor? Munchkin Coroner?

Hunk? Uncle Henry? Hickory? Toto?
Dorthy Gale? Aunt Em? Almira Gulch?
Professor Marvel? Tin Man? Glinda?
Wizard? Wicked Witch? Ruby Slippers?

Winged Monkeys instructed: “Take your Army
to the Haunted Forest and bring me those boys
and girls! Do what you want with the others—
They'll give you no trouble I promise you that?”

Winkies chanting, “O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!” into
radios in the school hallway? Hearing, “Poppies,
poppies, poppies” instead of some shooter’s
Pop-pop-pop-pops for some 70 minutes?

Are we leaving any characters out?

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe and PayPal.

Uvalde

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


More Stories


  • Freedom Rider: New Attacks on Venezuela
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: New Attacks on Venezuela
    13 May 2020
    The Democratic Party’s “left” wing is mute on the latest US aggression against the people and government of Venezuela, thus giving assent to Trump by their silence.
  • Joe Biden, Kim Jong-Un, and the Dialectics of White Supremacy
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Joe Biden, Kim Jong-Un, and the Dialectics of White Supremacy
    13 May 2020
    White supremacy shapes every aspect of imperialism and must be understood from a dialectical perspective if socialism is to ever become a possibility in the United States.
  • Trump wins! Completing Obama’s Pivot to Asia and the Confrontation with China
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Trump wins! Completing Obama’s Pivot to Asia and the Confrontation with China
    13 May 2020
    The Trump administration is determined to “put China in its place,” a white supremacist mindset that will inevitably lead to monumental errors of judgement. 
  • Things Don’t Get No Better
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Things Don’t Get No Better
    13 May 2020
    The current season of sickness – biological and political – is, indeed, strange, with no hint of a better day any time soon.
  • Archaic capitalism’s COVID cops?
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Archaic capitalism’s COVID cops?
    13 May 2020
    What if COVID-19 came and drove down crime by 40%? What if capitalism’s cops be- came useless 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us