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

Breathe the Bern…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
20 Apr 2016
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Our poet in residence muses upon the collective madness engendered by the quadrennial presidential election.

Breathe the Bern…

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Right around this time ‘left’ pundits and
Pontificators hitch worn star-spangled
suspenders to an ol’ mule and pretend they’re
Alcoholics— invoking the serenity prayer:

“God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things that I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.”

They claim theirs is the highest form of self-
discipline; like a form of Yoga, a sacred set of
Breathing exercises in 4yr-cycles—foundation of
their practice is regulation of oxygen to brain cells…

But it looks like the Hokey-Pokey:

You clamp your left nostril down,
Until it feels like you’ll drown…
You clamp your right nostril down,
Until your ‘hood’s like Jonestown—

Then you do the shit again in 4 yrs
As the wily 1% stokes your fears…
Set yourself back another decade
With the practicing of this charade…

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 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


  • Black Alliance for Peace Africa Team
    In Honor of Comrade Abiodun Aremu: A Teacher and a Fighter for African Liberation
    15 Oct 2025
    We honor the life of Nigerian organizer Abiodun Aremu, a true Pan-Africanist whose legacy demands we intensify the fight for African sovereignty. His recent, suspicious death only underscores the…
  • Pavan Kulkarni
    With PAIGC barred, Will Elections in Guinea-Bissau Legitimize a Neocolonial Dictatorship?
    15 Oct 2025
    Led by Amilcar Cabral, Guinea-Bissau was in the forefront of African anti-colonial movements. But independence for that nation in 1973 has been followed by continual struggle for true sovereignty and…
  • Gerald A. Perreira , Organization for the Victory of the People
    No to US State Terrorism in the Caribbean Sea No to US Plans for Regime Change in Venezuela Caricom Must Act Now
    15 Oct 2025
    The U.S. is using Guyana as a proxy to escalate aggression against Venezuela. This manufactured crisis, fueled by oil interests, risks dragging the entire region into war.
  • Chris Gilbert , Cira Pascual Marquina
    Culture and Resistance: The Palmarito Afro-Descendant Commune (Part II)
    15 Oct 2025
    Afro-Venezuelan communards on the southern shore region of Lake Maracaibo discuss the intersection of culture and organization.
  • Mohammad al-Ayoubi
    No Rule Without Resistance: Gaza’s Post-War Future and the Collapse of Foreign Illusions
    15 Oct 2025
    As western powers push technocracy over sovereignty, Palestinian resistance movements warn that there can be no reconstruction without liberation.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us