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

Cranes and Tents
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
05 Dec 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Stable working class neighborhoods are the bane of speculators, developers and capitalist politicians.
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 …

 

Š 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.

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


More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Erica R. Edwards’ “The Other Side of Terror”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    ​​​​​​​ BAR Book Forum: Erica R. Edwards’ “The Other Side of Terror”
    08 Sep 2021
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Erica R. Edwards.
  • U.S. Corporate Media Watch
    Richard Medhurst and Roberto Sirvent
    U.S. Corporate Media Watch
    08 Sep 2021
    Richard and Roberto would like to dedicate this feature to Glen Ford, one of the fiercest critics of U.S. corporate media the country has ever known.
  • Michael Steven Smith's tribute to the late Michael Ratner, celebrating the publication of Michael Ratner‘s memoir, “Moving the Bar: My Life as a Radical Lawyer“. 
    Michael Steven Smith
    My Friend Michael Ratner
    08 Sep 2021
    The following is a talk that Michael Steven Smith gave on July 27, 2021 at a book party in New York City’s Lower East Side sponsored by the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild t
  • The recent coup in Guinea exemplifies the damage done by European colonizers and the U.S. Africa Command.
    Netfa Freeman
    Guinea and the Military Coup Incubator, AFRICOM
    08 Sep 2021
    The recent coup in Guinea exemplifies the damage done by European colonizers and the U.S. Africa Command.
  • The African Union, Israel and the Futility of Appeasement
    Marwan Bishara
    The African Union, Israel and the Futility of Appeasement
    08 Sep 2021
    The AU should be leading the fight against racism, not cozying up to racist regimes.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us