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

Oink
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
28 Oct 2015
šŸ–Øļø Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

in which the poet muses upon the landscapeve in which urban pioneers thrive

Oink

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

I saw Satan high on Seconalā€”ā€˜Red
Devils’—zap an app for zombie-settlers.
Then they came by covered wagon,
stagecoach, horseback—bathed, and
reinvented themselves as programmers,
humans, condo-owners.

I saw rent refugees morph into miserable
Monsters—vapid vampires sucking soul,
air and chocolate out Tha Town. I saw them
turn into werewolves on Lakeshore, pushing
porcelain babies in thousand dollar strollers;
stressed-out Yogis practicing purse-clutching,
street-crossing, stink-eye Spiritualism on children
and grand-children of seventy-year residents.

I saw Dadaists driving drunk the wrong way on
10K gold-paved streets, killing dance masters,
like  policemen gunning down painters as a form
of critique

I saw the Best Burrito Shop, The5th Amendment,
and Africa By The Bay run off The Ave; their places
Taken by caffeine shooting galleries and Boer beer
bars for rent refugees trekkking 13 miles, bringing
Butte with them.
I saw nextdoor.com Nazi-NSA impersonators circle
laager between OPD cruisers and string yellow tape
around drumming, dancing, BBQing, singing Gospel
and other verbs modified by the phrase: ā€œā€¦while Blackā€

Raymond Nat Turner Ā© 2015 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Dis-honest Broker (for my friend Farid)
    25 Oct 2023
    "Dis-honest Broker (for my friend Farid)" is the latest work from BAR's poet-in-residence.
  • Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the UN
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    A Veto from Hell
    25 Oct 2023
    On October 18, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield raised her hand to veto even so much as a ā€œhumanitarian pauseā€ to Israel’s war on Gaza.
  • Mikey Smith Jamaican poet
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EULOGY: Bloody Neo-Colonialism…, Amiri Baraka, 1983
    25 Oct 2023
    In this eulogy for dub poet Michael ā€œMikeyā€ Smith, Amiri Baraka asserts the need for Black and Third World mass organization against the ravages of neo-colonialism, imperialism, racism, and…
  • Close Rikers
    Stacy M. Brown
    Latest Stats Show America’s Continued Love Affair with Mass Incarceration
    18 Oct 2023
    The United States still has the dubious distinction of having more people behind bars than any other country. The population of local jails continue to rise and is a bellwether for mass incarceration…
  • Image of LeBron James by Robert Carter for The Los Angeles Times
    Gus Griffin
    Palestine and the Miseducation of LeBron James
    18 Oct 2023
    The Black political class is not made up solely of politicians. Celebrities and athletes like LeBron James are given access to corporate dollars and their politics reflect their class interests.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us