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

A Poet's Proposal for DT's Inauguration
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Jan 2017
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Word is that president-elect Donald Trump still has performance openings for next week's inaugural. In the selfless and noble spirit of public service, our poet kindly offers his own services, and anxiously awaits a response from Rump tower.

A Poet's Proposal for DT's Inauguration

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Bet you wonderin’ how I knew

Few are willin’ to perform for you?

I heard it through the grapevine

Also on TV, radio and online…

I ain’t A-list—

F-list, maybe?

Not a seven-figga n**** or War House Hoet in the

Retinue the Drone Ranger plays like plastic kazoos—

Yet, I’m willing to serve, sir:

Call it Patriot Act III!

Willing to audition, practice, rehearse—gratis—

get on the back of a Greyhound bus, brown bag,

greasy fried chicken, like the good ol’ days…

Apply a plastic smile, applaud on cue, shuffle, shake hands with

Strong-arm Williams, Sheriff Stephen Judas Clarke, Thom-ass

Clarence, and other warlike Bassackwards Tribal leaders

I’m willing to get William Withers with you, sir:

It’s my appointed duty

To let you use me

Get me in a crowd of right-wing racists and act real rude to me—

‘Cause I wanna spread the news:

That if it trends this good gettin’ used

Come on, use me ‘til you use me up—

My fifteen-minutes of FLAME!!

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

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 Agenda Radio for Week of May 18, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of May 18, 2020
    19 May 2020
    Pandemic Has Shaken Global Capitalism to Its Core
  • Mumia: Everybody is Getting a Taste of Lockdown
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Mumia: Everybody is Getting a Taste of Lockdown
    18 May 2020
    The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, says all of Pennsylania’s incarcerated population has been on 23 hour, 15 minute daily lockdown since the beginnin
  • Is Genetic Testing a Tool for Reparations?
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Is Genetic Testing a Tool for Reparations?
    18 May 2020
    The science of genetics “can be useful for showing continuity, that the people who were harmed are, indeed, ancestors of those who are living today,” said Dr.
  • Rural Blacks and Browns at High Risk
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Rural Blacks and Browns at High Risk
    18 May 2020
    “In the last decade more than 125 rural hospitals have closed,” said Dr Carrie Henning-Smith, of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and co-author of a st
  • Pandemic Has Shaken Global Capitalism to Its Core
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Pandemic Has Shaken Global Capitalism to Its Core
    18 May 2020
    Black America’s most prolific political author, Dr Gerald Horne, notes that the bubonic plague “set the stage for the erosion of feudalism in 14th century Europe,” l
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us