$election postmortem

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

10 Dec 2020

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It was the Latino Vote…
No, it was the Latinix vote!
No, it was Black Women!
No, it was LGBTQ+ Black Women!
No, it was Red State Soccer Moms!
No, it was Mocha-sipping Millennials!
No, it was Gen Z Cannabis Users!
No, it was Independent Tattooed/Pierced Punks!
No, it was Swinging Swing State Couples!
No, it was Battleground State Bartenders!
No, it was Lincoln Project Republicans!
No, it was Erectile Dysfunctional Men Over 50
earning over $100K
Who flipped Orange Age, red nose, big shoe shows
Mengele Medicine cult of death to: “Dark Winter”
Wehrmacht Lilliputian pandemic policies—toilers’
Tiny Tim
Geithner ‘relief’ for metastasizing mile-long food lines…

But then again, maybe it was the eyes,
teeth and blood lost? Maybe it was the
bodies absorbing blows, steel tempered
by white heat and hammer?
Maybe it was spongy young lungs of all hues sucking up
teargas? Maybe it was innocent wrists cuffed torturously
tight losing sensation—wrists refusing to normalize—wrists
refusing to co-sign barbarism marketing itself as the highest
form of civilization?

Maybe it was the masked ones; the physically-
spaced ones, spiritually-connected on blistered
feet and cramped legs? Maybe it was the ones
with aching arms, and hoarse voices shouting
slogans at ear-splitting decibels reverberating
between buildings of big business and special
bodies of armed men?

Maybe it was the bold, brave ones occupying U.S.
Streets for over two months—
Centering
Mass struggle antidotes to death and hunger?

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at https://www.youtube.com/user/zigilow

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