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

Everything they touch turns to rubble
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
11 Mar 2026
🖨️ Print Article
Caracas, Venezuela after bombing
Smoke rises in Caracas, Venezuela on January 3, 2026 following a US bombing campaign. Photo via X

Saddest symphony on Earth. Trembling notes, harrowing screams, wails,
moans. Same timbre, same tones. Same saline Palestine tears as Sudan.
Same as Ukraine, Lebanon, Venezuela, Iran. Same 1% at war with
workers of the world — and Everything they touch turns to rubble

Tiny backpacks, bloody body parts litter pulverized apartment and charred-
car streets. Stolen lives litter flattened hospitals and schools. Litter crimson
coffee shop floors. Litter blackened fields of vaporized crops.
Everything they touch turns to rubble

They bomb, they strut. They prance and ‘dance,’ and bomb and bomb again.
Their lucrative explosions silence music of whining saws, pounding hammers 
raising roofs to house the unhoused. While abroad they shout, “stay sheltered!”
Everything they touch turns to rubble

High off homeland invasion hubris, hostile takeovers weeks before, they
dream of easy money. Quick work of a weekend war. But weekend morphs
into weeks. And weeks into months. And months into the longest leanest years.
Everything they touch turns to rubble

Pyrite wrecking balls revolving around orange planet, Pedophilia. ‘Round its Epstein
news cycles. ‘Round its smell of death, scent of sulphur, white phosphorus fragrance
anointing them. They send holy warriors to strike Saturdays, Sundays and holidays; and
Everything they touch turns to rubble

They strike when Essential Workers catch fleeting winks on speeding trains roaring
beneath snoring cities. When countrymen and women dreaming of better worlds are
not yet woke. Cruel Reich Cult strikes under cover of darkness over and over again
Everything they touch turns to rubble

Cruel Reich Cult strikes weekends when working ones double over panting,
catching blitzkrieg breaths. Or meditate, chant, or pray protecting their souls,
spirits and minds from repeated trauma of terrorist Psy-Ops on our damn dime.
Everything they touch turns to rubble

Body count from One Big Beautiful Bank Job. Wreckage, wake of DOGE:
Department Of Grifter Enrichment. Frozen, drowned, burned bodies pile up at
feet of foolish climate deniers; with roadkill credited to Mengele medicine men
Everything they touch turns to rubble

J6 white supremacists storming Capitalist Hill, ransacking offices, shitting in its halls —
ugly omen — foreshadowed shredded social safety net. Scuttled science and education.
War House-Offal Office grifted in gold. Kennedy Center shuttered; Bill Of Rights redacted.
Everything they touch turns to rubble


© 2026. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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.

MAGA
Donald Trump
Iran
Palestine
Venezuela
Sudan
imperialism
War
Corruption
Epstein Class

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


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The U.S. Determination to Achieve Full Spectrum Dominance is Not In Decline
23 September 2026
The trope of the United States being in a state of decline is a common one, but it should not be accepted without scrutiny. The U.S.
Jacqueline Luqman
The Perfect Victim Narrative Applied To Foreign Policy Only Keeps U.S. Imperialism Alive
23 September 2026
The demand to call out alleged crimes in Iran or Cuba while those countries face annihilation from the U.S.
Roberta Rivolta
Western Activism and the Axis of Resistance
23 September 2026
Western pro-Palestinian activism isolates Palestine from its regional allies, depoliticizing its struggle and reinforcing colonial
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Ultimate Betrayal of Alex Saab and the Fate of Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan People
16 September 2026
The United States got its hands on Alex Saab a second time in order to use him in its case against Nicolás Maduro. The U.S.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
COMMENTARY: The Shrinking American Empire, Glen Ford, 2009
16 September 2026
“The Iraq invasion greatly accelerated the process of U.S. imperialism’s decline.” 
Gary Wilson
Germany’s war drive feeds the far right in Saxony-Anhalt
16 September 2026
The AfD's landslide in Saxony-Anhalt reflects real working-class anger at the war and the arms buildup, but the party redirects that anger towa
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
In the same boat?
09 September 2026
BOOM goes tuna and swordfish stuffed brown burlap bags aboardboats blown to smithereens. Presto! Fishing is now narco-trafficking.
Dhoruba bin-Wahad
Guardian Foray: All That's Not Real Is Camouflage
09 September 2026
An Open Letter from the American "Left" allegedly on behalf of unnamed persons said to be Iranian political prisoners has provided co
Libertad para Fergie
Free Fergie Chambers: Solidarity Is Not a Crime
09 September 2026
Fergie Chambers is an American philanthropist who was arrested on July 10 in Ibiza, Spain, by order of the Trump Administration.
Luciano Vasapollo
Cuba Stands Firm, Venezuela Risks Losing its Sovereignty
09 September 2026
Cuba's leadership has chosen resistance over subordination as the blockade tightens, but Venezuela's sovereignty is being stripped away.

More Stories


  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Tuesday night’s tiny glimpse of what The People really want
    12 Nov 2025
    "Tuesday night’s tiny glimpse of what The People really want" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Interview with Tapji Garba
    12 Nov 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed writers about their work. This week’s featured author is Tapji Garba. Garba is a graduate student based in Toronto, focusing on Critical Black studies and political…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    The Popular Steering Committee for a Zone of Peace in Our Americas Welcomes the Reaffirmation of Our Region as a Zone of Peace
    12 Nov 2025
    The Popular Steering Committee for the Zone of Peace in Our Americas calls on the masses of the peoples of Our America to unify struggles against the common enemy.
  • Marwa Yousuf K.
    Mamdani and The Liberal Repackaging of Power
    12 Nov 2025
    Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York City mayor's race was significant, but liberalism succeeds by presenting a veneer of change where it may not exist.
  • Issa Shivji
    The Petty Bourgeoisie in the Thought of Amilcar Cabral and Walter Rodney
    12 Nov 2025
    A deep exploration of Cabral’s and Rodney’s thoughts on the petty bourgeoisie and class struggles in Africa.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us