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Black Friday’s gift
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
23 Nov 2021
Black Friday’s gift

                                                                                                               Black Friday’s gift

                                                                                            “Armed with the knowledge of our past,  

                                                                     we can with confidence charter a course for our future.”  —Malcolm X

                                                                                                          “He’s small potatoes.”  

                                                                                                              —Hyman Roth

Black Friday verdict gift sheltered  

somewhere in superstorms of emojis…

We shuddered, venting black smoke  

from our ears. Some even shed acid

rain tears—then shifted gears—

Putting bloodshot eyes back on the prize

 

As the governor spoke in tongues:

500 rifles/fixed bayonets. Madame

Speaker’s sonic boom of silence blended

superbly with silent partner—Ol’ Schmo:

“The jury system works; we must abide by

it…” and both babbled, “Build back better…”

 

Once upon a time, formerly enslaved  

Africans/radical Euro-Americans were

Really ‘bout to “Build back better—“  

calling it Reconstruction! But ancestors

of Officer Prodigy’s ilk routinely ambushed

them—gunned them down—on sight…

Wow—the more things change…

 

Black Friday verdict gift, wrapped in thin

clear plastic—flaunting tilted table, marked cards,  

loaded dice, thumbed scale rot. Revealing stink of

low Barr-butt-naked-Boss Tweet death cult crookedness.

 

Black Friday verdict gift, intersecting greedy,

capitalist ball of confusion—hodgepodge patchwork Of

pandemic death. And hives of unhoused on card board

mattresses in tents beneath bridges and freeways. No

screaming saws/drumming hammers—no sawdust gospel to

the rescue raising roofs…

 

Black Friday verdict gift, reminding us that we

are deep in the throes of class war with dinosaurs  

Stalling solar, wind, hydroelectric dreams—with

coal, oil, gas quicksand sifting through the hour

glass, dragging us down like we drag their horse

men down from pedestals.

 

Black Friday verdict gift—pimp-slapping

the taste out our mouths; kicking us to the curb

for the umpteenth time this millennium.

Reminding us War House, Capitalist Hill, White  

Supreme Court are 1% WMD

Reminding us of war with crooked electoral college  

filibustering fingers; gnarled gerrymandering hands of

billionaire predators; multimillionaire managers  and

gunmen fighting ferociously for the ‘50s—1850s!

 

Black Friday verdict gift—reminds us of ruins

from Battles of Kenosha, Brunswick,  

Charlottesville, Benton Harbor, Flint, Ferguson  

leaving us with burned out beliefs; charred trust—

Only Strike-tober-Standing Rock-George Floyd

Summer-2020-Occupy and our lying eyes remain…

 

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, 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: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund

PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Justice

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