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


  • Ethiopia: The West’s Diplomats Meet in Secret to Decide How to Help the TPLF
    Jeff Pearce
    Ethiopia: The West’s Diplomats Meet in Secret to Decide How to Help the TPLF
    01 Dec 2021
    Former and current diplomats from the US, EU and UK met with representatives of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
  • WHO Stands with African Nations and Calls for Borders to Remain Open
    World Health Organization
    WHO Stands with African Nations and Calls for Borders to Remain Open
    01 Dec 2021
    Scientists in Southern African nations revealed the presence of the Omicron Covid-19 variant but the good deed was punished with worldwide travel bans. The World Health Organization m
  • Anti-Communism, Anti-Blackness, and Imperialism
    Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
    Anti-Communism, Anti-Blackness, and Imperialism
    01 Dec 2021
    In this talk prepared for the Albuquerque Anti-War Coalition‘s 
  • from mississippiriverdelta.org
    Justin Hosbey, J.T. Roane
    A Totally Different Form of Living: On the Legacies of Displacement and Marronage as Black Ecologies
    01 Dec 2021
    This is a brief reflection on water, swamps, bayous, wetlands, and Black life in the United States, and the forms of freedom and racialized unfreedom that these ecologies have facilitated.
  • The Racist, Imperialist War on Venezuela
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    The Racist, Imperialist War on Venezuela
    24 Nov 2021
    We are reprinting Glen Ford’s 2019 article on Venezuela not to demonstrate that he was prescient on the issue of U.S.-Venezuela policies, but because it is still relevant and demonstrates the t
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us