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
  • omnibus

Fraternal fist-bump between gangstas—Fugget about it… (For Allen Ginsberg, my other favorite ‘Jersey Boy’)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
03 Aug 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Fraternal fist-bump between gangstas—Fugget about it…

Fraternal fist-bump between gangstas—Fugget about it…
(For Allen Ginsberg, my other favorite ‘Jersey Boy’)

I.
apartheid state/south of the border/embassy butcherville—
Truth tellers residing in crosshairs everywhere! So what’s with
twitter tizzy; dither ‘bout a lil’ hand-to-hand contact between
Gangstas?
                                                                   Fugget about it…
A fraternal fist bump?
A routine morning dump?
Or a Munchkin coal lump?
A Yankee slugger’s slump?
                                                                   Fugget about it…
Brotherly bungee jump?
Ol’ Schmo playin’ the chump?
nazi party post-Trump?
Or overwork of Ben Crump?
                                                                   Fugget about it…
II.
Ol’ Schmo said he hadda go
Ol’ Schmo said he hadda go—
He said he was gonna make a Pariah of the prince
He said he was gonna make a Pariah of the prince—
But made death merchants more dollaz an’ cents!

Ol’ Schmo said he hadda go
Ol’ Schmo said he hadda go—
He said he was gonna make the prince into a Pariah
He said he was gonna make the prince into a Pariah—
But, look, whose star-spangled trousers is on fiyah?

Ol’ Schmo said, “Nothing will fundamentally change…”
Ol’ Schmo said, “Nothing will fundamentally change…”
C’mon, now’s, the fraternal fist-bump all that strange??

Ol’ Schmo said, Bloody fists don’t give Gangstas COVID-19
Ol’ Schmo said, Bloody fists don’t give Gangstas COVID-19
‘Cause he, the prince, et.al’s—cut from Capitalist Gangrene!

© 2022. 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  and PayPal .

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


More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Ukraine Terrorism and the Question of U.S. Involvement
    04 Jun 2025
    The U.S has been involved in every aspect of Ukraine’s military activity against Russia. The recent drone attacks and sabotage were likely committed with U.S. help. Of course, is possible that…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    MEMOIR: The Making of a Rebel, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, 1980
    04 Jun 2025
    “We cannot write in foreign languages unspoken and unknown by peasants and workers in our communities and pretend that we are writing for…those peasants and workers.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Struggle for a Somali Nation
    04 Jun 2025
    Despite shared language, culture, and religion, Somalis still struggle to become a cohesive nation.
  • Jon Jeter
    Pizza Goeth Before a Fall? Changes in Americans’ Eating Habits Foretell a Deep Recession
    04 Jun 2025
    Wages can't keep up with prices, debt is crushing workers, and racial capitalism keeps us divided over shrinking slices. This isn't just inflation—it's collapse.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Rising Temperatures and the Rising Need for a Black Radical Lens in the Climate Change Discourse.
    04 Jun 2025
    Liberal climate movements keep bargaining with capitalism, but the Black Radical Tradition knows survival requires its destruction. Environmentalism must adopt principles of abolition and anti-…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us