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.
Capitalism’s poisoning water and air,
and ignorant exploiters don’t care!
Pyramids and huts; tuxes and tails,
unwashed butts—tents and jails.
First come the cranes—then the
Tents, skyrocketing mortgages—then the
Rents… money, money, money for military
Bases in far off places—but, it’s “Pie in the
sky,” to demand affordable living spaces!
Basketball team’s outgrown The Town,
football team’s slipping off to Sin
City after slurping at the trough…
Capitalism’s poisoning water and air,
and ignorant exploiters don’t care!
Pyramids and huts; tuxes and tails,
unwashed butts—tents and jails.
First come the cranes—then the
Tents, skyrocketing mortgages—then the
Rents… money, money, money for military
Bases in far off places—but, it’s “Pie in the
sky,” to demand affordable living spaces!
And we play dress-up in grown folks’ clothes—
Tiny red, white and blue stickers— pretending
we’re fixing it in 20 minutes… every 2-4 years …
© 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.
Qualified immunity is the legal doctrine that shields public officials accused of civil rights violations. Police and corrections officers face limited repercussions for acts of brutality, even for…
Leah Goodridge is a member of New York City Planning Commission. She opposed the One45 project, which was to have been located on West 145th Street and Lenox Avenue. The project was opposed by the…
Gonzalo Mercado is Director of Transnational Programs at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) which is among the convening organizations for the People's Summit for Democracy, which…
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) for Prosperity is another futile U.S. effort to diminish China's economic prowess. But IPEF also demonstrates systemic failure and a crisis of legitimacy.
Two mass shootings in quick succession brought out the worst in Americans. The anger and grief were followed by the usual lies and pretense that violence here is somehow mysterious. Political leaders…
