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

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Apr 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky CBS 60 Minutes Interview (Photo: Eric Kerchner CBS)

                                                                                       Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……,

                                                                                 “If you don’t have a broken heart—

                                                                                                  get one…”

                                                                                     —Poet Jack Hirschman

 

QUIET ON THE SET. ROLL SOUND. Sound Rolling.  ROLL CAMERA. Camera Speed. MARKER. ACTION:

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Quiet on the set…

Quit crying… What, are you stupid? Haven’t you heard of

stuntmen—special effects? These are actors. Great actors!

Studied under Stanislavsky. This is staged. A cast of

thousands. Why, this mass evacuation’s straight outta

Eisenstein! Actors were instructed to flashback on family

photos in their back packs. Think about tricycles, toys, stuffed

animals left be hind with baby books, keepsakes, clothes and

favorite foods…

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Quiet on the set…

Quit crying…This ain’t no Amos & Andy operation

like Libya, Ethiopia, The Congo, or Aleppo. This is major—

Armorers; Grips; Gaffers; Casting Directors; Script Supervisors;

Catering Crew—special effects alone cost more than most films!

Surround sound’s realism’s off the chain… The bomb, huh? How

cool’s all the air conditioners hanging from blown out windows?

Almost got you believin’ the buildings are really damaged?

Almost got you believin' that’s really rubble, huh? Almost got

you believin’ rust’s real on those perforated cars; and crying and

moaning you’re hearing’s real? These are actors— Brilliant

actors—studied Shakespeare!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Quiet on the set…

Quit crying… Your dogs ain’t dead. They trained with Cesar Millan.

They’ll rise up running like Lassie, barking like Toto—partying Spuds

McKenzie-style—at the stentorian command, “Cut!”

Your photographer friend and the young journalist who frequented

the coffee shop ain’t dead. They’ll rise, hearing, “Cut!” and shooting

will Stop… Your loved ones ain’t dead. They’re professional. They’ll leap up for

Lunch; stuff bloody brain tissue back into their skulls; stuff guts

back in their bodies, scurry over to the Catering Crew, grab bites

between

Lunch and dinner with cast and crew—when the Director shouts: “Cut!”

Wow, isn’t this staged shit cool?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Quiet on the set…

Quit crying… Dig the dancing stormtroopers, the combat

Chippendales rootin’ rebels; dancin’ the De-nazify—must

be a musical? Springtime anyone?

Wait, watch Ringling Brothers of Rhetoric riding dragons, donkeys,

elephants, pandas and bears from history, while rattling off hat sizes of

czars and other minutiae! Watch Ringling Brothers of Rhetoric dangling

from dicks of dictators; sucking off oligarchs,strongmen, kleptocrats/state

capitalist clowns at the speed of sound— As a shirtless horseman gallops

into the sunset with bulging saddle bags for himself and The Nationalist

International…Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet;

BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC.

You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

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


More Stories


  • Zone of Peace Campaign Press Conference
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Zone of Peace Campaign Press Conference
    07 Apr 2023
    The Black Alliance for Peace Zone of Peace campaign launch event took place in Washington DC.
  • Ajamu Baraka Discusses the Zone of Peace and Kamala Harris’ Trip to Africa
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Ajamu Baraka Discusses the Zone of Peace and Kamala Harris’ Trip to Africa
    07 Apr 2023
    Ajamu Baraka discusses the Zone of Peace campaign.
  • Trump Derangement Syndrome Returns
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Trump Derangement Syndrome Returns
    05 Apr 2023
    If democrats were smart, Donald Trump would be a disgraced former president, forgotten by all but his most ardent admirers. But they aren't smart and they may have given him a political resurrection.
  • ESSAY: New Creation or Familiar Death? An Open Letter to Black Students in the North: Vincent Harding, 1969
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: New Creation or Familiar Death? An Open Letter to Black Students in the North: Vincent Harding, 1969
    05 Apr 2023
    Vincent Harding’s reflections on the expansion of Black Studies in the 1960s offers an ominous warning on the hiring of Black faculty and administrators today.
  • Paul Rusesabagina is free after being kidnapped and taken to Rwanda in 2020. But Rwanda's president Kagame no doubt exacted a high price from the U.S. in exchange for his freedom and will resume pillaging Congo with no fear of interference.
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    US Uses Rusesabagina’s Release to Whitewash Its Decades of Support for the Kagame Regime
    05 Apr 2023
    Paul Rusesabagina is free after being kidnapped and taken to Rwanda in 2020. The US claims credit for pressuring Rwanda to release him, hoping to distract the world from its decades of support for…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us