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

Ruling-class Remedies
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
18 Mar 2020
🖨️ Print Article
Ruling-class Remedies
Ruling-class Remedies

If you’re feeling exceptionally feverish 
or feverishly exceptional
pull a tight-fitting, cherry red MAGAT
cap over your forehead and eyes. Tight
on your temples and clean coal compress.
White phosphorus poultices work wonders
if your temperature’s hotter than a Hellfire 
Missile: $110,000 each… 

Self-quarantine and waterboard yourself
several times an hour; $campaigns and
$elections and stress positions work too.
You can use enhanced
interrogation techniques until you’re
dry coughing and screaming, “It’s a 
Chinese hoax!”

Hydrate yourself with fracking fluid or
crude oil—or simply
put a predator drone under your pillow;
Suck on a nuke. And F-35 exhaust will
scorch phlegm from your respiratory
tract—but wrap your home in plastic 
sheeting and seal it with duct tape…

Remain calm, you’re safe.
There’s a wall to your West. 
And boots are on the ground
slogging over shit-hole countries.
Remember, bases ring the 
Globe. Count bases if you’re
experiencing difficulty getting 
to sleep. Play war games—or
Practice military exercises…

Social-distance yourself from
anyone sneezing, spraying tiny
droplets of healthcare for all—
or contagious germs for housing
the unhoused— or living wages!

© 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

 

Indiana Guaidó 

Indiana Guaidó
Norte Americano 
Coming out of Shadow— 
Wall Street wine caves,
crystal chandeliers of
the champagne, caviar
Cayman Island crowd
as self-proclaimed savior

Indiana Guaidó
Norte Americano 
Coming out of Shadow—
dragging rusty links of
the Iron Lady’s chains
as an old commercial for
cheap ghetto wine repeats:
“Don’t let the smooth taste
fool you…”

Indiana Guaidó
Norte Americano 
Coming out of Shadow—
leader lab’s handpicked
Hoosier, battery-operated
boy wonder—first openly
hostile enemy of health-
care for ALL

Indiana Guaidó
Norte Americano 
Coming out of Shadow—
another pleasant plastic face,
another new neoliberal kid on 
the block—like the Drone Ranger— 
Another buttoned-down thug
tethered to Wall Street…

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com .

COMMENTS?Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareportOr, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

poetry

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Pa
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.

More Stories


  • Why Barack Obama Can't Shut Up
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Why Barack Obama Can't Shut Up
    20 Sep 2023
    Barack Obama devastated millions of people all over the world and speaks of his actions as if they were committed by someone else. It is a masterful performance by a man committed to deception.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Question of Compensation: A Third World Perspective, Norman Girvan, 1972
    20 Sep 2023
    Where are multinational corporations in discussions of reparations? The late Jamaican political economist Norman Girvan provides an answer.        
  • Getting Ethiopia Dead Wrong
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Getting Ethiopia Dead Wrong
    20 Sep 2023
    Rasmus Sonderriis's book is a thorough exposé of the West's destructively deceitful narrative about Ethiopia's two-year Tigray War.
  • BAR Book Forum: Celeste Winston’s Book “How to Lose the Hounds”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Celeste Winston’s Book “How to Lose the Hounds”
    20 Sep 2023
    This week’s featured author is Celeste Winston.
  • Understanding the White Supremacy at the Center of the 'Class Over Race' Debate
    Jon Jeter
    Understanding the White Supremacy at the Center of the 'Class Over Race' Debate
    20 Sep 2023
    Any talk of discussing class instead of racism is disingenuous in a country which uses every opportunity to indulge in anti-Black racism. The history of racism in the labor movement is just one…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us