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

if it takes 100 years
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
06 Dec 2017
🖨️ Print Article
if it takes 100 years

I am the North Star—
Hope; Never wavering, organizing,
burning thorough bars, walls, wire—
I am consciousness of all
creatures, crystalline water,
clean, sweet air, black soil
From forgotten reservations

I am non-GMO, organic apples,
pears, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach
Springing from beads of sweat
mixed with midnight oil—
I am not the latest sneakers, phones
from Black Friday Madness,
Celebrity Worship or
Dumbed-down gossip ‘bout ‘stars’

I am coagulated blood
of gunned down doctors wafting from
Women’s reproductive rights—
Flowering from fertilizer of guilt
I am freedom, loving
Whomever I choose…

I am single-payer
Healthcare rising from Big Pharma
body-slams/lies of lobotomized politicians;
I am affordable housing
clubbed from corrugated cardboard sleep;
I am free education—
Peace studies writhing free of
handcuffs, cutting off circulation…
I am smoldering ashes of a
burned down Black Baptist Church
Repudiating ‘race’ with pain

I am revolution—
Socialism passing freely, back and forth
between metal detectors/bomb-sniffing dogs—
Arriving just moments ago:
…Having been here forever…

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. Find much more of his work at http"//upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

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


More Stories


  • Sudan Conflict Khartum
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Sudan Talks Between Military Leaders Cannot Bring Genuine Peace
    10 Jan 2024
    Civilian democratic forces are demanding inclusion in proposed discussions in Djibouti.
  • Root Work
    Black Agenda Radio
    Some of Us Are Brave, Volume I
    09 Jan 2024
    Thandisizwe Chimurenga is the author of the new book, Some of Us Are Brave, Volume I : Interviews and Conversations with Sistas on Life, Art and Struggle.
  • Anthony Monteiro
    Black Agenda Radio
    Anthony Monteiro on Ibram X. Kendi
    09 Jan 2024
    We’re joined by Dr. Anthony Monteiro, a Duboisian scholar and founder of the Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation. He joins us from Philadelphia to discuss Ibram X.
  • Haitian protester with the Haitian flag
    Black Agenda Radio
    Haiti Occupation Under the Cover of U.S. Led Black Face Imperialism
    08 Jan 2024
    Dr. Jemima Pierre is a Black Agenda Report contributing editor and a Professor of Global Race in the Institute of Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ) at the University of British…
  • Al Aqsa crowd
    Black Agenda Radio
    Operation Al-Aqsa Flood
    07 Jan 2024
    We present excerpts of a press conference posted on the Hamas Telegram channel which explains the origins of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us