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 SeconalââRed
Devilsââzap an app for zombie-settlers.
Then they came by covered wagon,
stagecoach, horsebackâbathed, and
reinvented themselves as programmers,
humans, condo-owners.
I saw rent refugees morph into miserable
Monstersâvapid 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: ââŚwhile Blackâ
Raymond Nat Turner Š 2015 All Rights Reserved
The first in a three-part series analyzing African politics in 2022.
The trans-Atlantice slave trade did not end with the 1808 ban. The Clotilda arrived in 1860 and the descendants of those enslaved people are impacted by that history, as are all African people in theâŚ
The U.S. imposes unilateral coercive measures, sanctions, against millions of people around the world. Sanctions are war by other means, creating as much damage as bombs and bullets do.
Black people are disproportionately convicted of felonies across New York State. In Manhattan, a Black person is 21 times more likely to be convicted of a crime than a white person.
Thank you for your support in 2022. Black Agenda Report Will Return on January 4, 2023.
