Stable working class neighborhoods are the bane of speculators, developers and capitalist politicians.
Lording over the landscape like giant
Insects sucking soul, blood, chocolate
into multi-colored mushrooms
Metastasizing citywide.
Officers ordering vacant storefronts,
lined up like soldiers, to make money,
while brothers with cupped hands
platoon on plastic crates at entrances to
$4-a-cup coffee shops with belligerent baristas.
Beneath fiery crimson skies,
afternoon freeways are fuming parking lots.
Capitalismās poisoning water and air,
and ignorant exploiters donāt care!
Pyramids and huts; tuxes and tails,
unwashed buttsātents and jails.
First come the cranesāthen the
Tents, skyrocketing mortgagesāthen the
Rentsā¦ money, money, money for military
Bases in far off placesābut, itās āPie in the
sky,ā to demand affordable living spaces!
Basketball teamās outgrown The Town,
football teamās slipping off to Sin
City after slurping at the troughā¦
Capitalismās poisoning water and air,
and ignorant exploiters donāt care!
Pyramids and huts; tuxes and tails,
unwashed buttsātents and jails.
First come the cranesāthen the
Tents, skyrocketing mortgagesāthen the
Rentsā¦ money, money, money for military
Bases in far off placesābut, itās āPie in the
sky,ā to demand affordable living spaces!
And we play dress-up in grown folksā clothesā
Tiny red, white and blue stickersā pretending
weāre fixing it in 20 minutesā¦ every 2-4 years ā¦
Ā© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.
Recognizing the one state reality of Israel-Palestine instead of two-state dreaming would be a huge paradigm shift with huge implications.
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This weekās featured author is Joy James. Dr. James is Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College.ā¦
Despite the praise she receives for being the āprogressiveā leader needed in the Caribbean, Mia Mottley and her policies in Barbados and her work within CARICOM have not veered outside the realm ofā¦
Kissinger is known as either the epitome of a statesman or the most hated man on the planet due to the atrocities committed under his leadership or advisement. However, the weight of these actsā¦
Anima Adjepong reviews the book "Race to Be Myself" by Caster Semeya, a South African Track and Field star whose gender was questioned by national sporting institutions.
