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


  • Somalia: The Lawless Frontier
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Somalia: The Lawless Frontier
    05 Jul 2023
    A UN "peacekeeping" mission continues operations in Somalia.
  • Black robe blitzkrieg and Bassackwards Tribesman  Thom-ass Clarence ARE the White Supreme Court
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Black robe blitzkrieg and Bassackwards Tribesman Thom-ass Clarence ARE the White Supreme Court
    05 Jul 2023
                                                         
  •  BAR Book Forum: Psyche A. Williams-Forson’s Book, “Eating While Black”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Psyche A. Williams-Forson’s Book, “Eating While Black”
    05 Jul 2023
    This week’s featured author is Psyche A. Williams-Forson. Williams-Forson is Professor and Chair of American Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her book is Eating While Black: Food…
  • Beyond Affirmative Action, Toward Black Unity
    Austin Cole
    Beyond Affirmative Action, Toward Black Unity
    05 Jul 2023
    The recent Supreme Court decision which banned the use of race as a criterion for college admissions is indeed racist. The decision also obscures the need for Black unity and for a new Black…
  • What To the Exploited Working Class and Poor in a Capitalist Dictatorship Is the Fourth of July?
    Jacqueline Luqman
    What To the Exploited Working Class and Poor in a Capitalist Dictatorship Is the Fourth of July?
    05 Jul 2023
    The 4th of July celebration is a relic of American exceptionalist ideology. There is very little independence in a capitalist dictatorship.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us