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

Sitting Shiva in South Florida for Our souls/slivers of democracy …
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
27 Mar 2024
🖨️ Print Article
memorial candles

Mirrorless. Unshaven. Compressed spine from
Sitting shiva in South Florida for blind eyes.
For three monkey mouths and ears in throes of
Spiritual death

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Shrieks of joy stolen by a desert aircraft carrier of F-16 reign.
Assassin of children. Bulldozer of dreams cadaver dogs tear
from bloody limbs of loved ones lost to a skunk water oasis.

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Settler-colonial condos metastasizing on bleached
Bones of babies—on schoolchildren’s aerosolized
Blood; On tears pooling in pulverized concrete …

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Lost souls and slivers of aspirational
Democracy: 1st, 4th and other Amendments—
Wrested from tyrants historical seconds ago …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Last Days of Pompeo. Watching White Supreme Courtesans
Play black-robed rip off rituals. Watching southern senators be-
come maid men, circumcising themselves on the senate floor …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching cruel grand dragon governors block rivers with
Orange buoys, saw blades, barbed wire, like they blocked
School house doors 60 years ago

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Sorting inquisitions from pogroms; Sand Creeks from
Wounded Knees—Tulsas from Rosewoods …. Sorting crunching
Glass sounds beneath Kristallnacht boots from January 6 boots …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching Sunshine State book-banning/Texas Tali-banning of
Abortion. Watching cotton curtain violence of Magnolia State
Weaponization of water

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching elders struggle with high fructose corn syrup
$campaign/$election slogans— ‘Build Back Better’ bupkis–
Wehrmacht musings. War House flapping of flat tires on a clown car

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Could someone really be ranting about not feeling ‘safe’
Wearing Dallas Cowboy-sized Star of David sweatshirt
Around the Sunshine State?

© 2024. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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 and PayPal.

Palestine
Texas
abortion
Elections
Racism

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


Related Stories

Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Big D Dysfunction: Why The Democrat Party’s Latest Comedy of Errors is a Tragedy of Strategy 
27 May 2026
The party that installed its presidential candidate without a primary vote now blames its 2024 loss on everything except its own cont
Matt Sledge , Sam Biddle
ICE Recruitment Tweets Are So Racist That Cops Feared They Could Incite Neo-Nazi Violence
27 May 2026
A newly uncovered police bulletin warns that white supremacists may interpret ICE social media content as a call to violence.
x
Yarden Azoulay Katz
“Their Chaos is Our Peace”: Fighting Zionist Repression in Texas and Beyond
29 April 2026
Zionists continue their attacks on universities, exerting pressure to silence and terminate professors who express views in support of Palestin
John Parker
Socialist candidate John Parker: Abolish ICE and police, fund people’s needs
22 April 2026
Following is a recent campaign meeting talk by socialist congressional candidate John Parker.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Donald Trump and the Truth About Robert Mueller
25 March 2026
Donald Trump is not lying about Robert Mueller.
Black Alliance For Peace
In Solidarity with the Prairieland Nine
25 March 2026
The Prairieland Nine convictions are an example of lawfare designed to criminalize political dissent and intimidate movements challenging the n
Boycott the world cup
Black Alliance For Peace
100 Days From the World Cup, an International Coalition is Calling on FIFA to Move the Games From the U.S.
11 March 2026
The US has disqualified itself from hosting the World Cup through wars, genocide, and domestic repression.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Trump’s De Jure Racism Provides Convenient Cover for Liberals and Democrats to Mask Their De Facto Racism
11 February 2026
The political theater of condemning Trump's racism serves the function of diverting attention from the more dangerous, policy-based r
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Epstein Files Shows How the Elites Move
04 February 2026
The importance of the Epstein files cannot be underestimated.
Marwa Yousuf K.
Mamdani and The Liberal Repackaging of Power
12 November 2025
Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York City mayor's race was significant, but liberalism succeeds by presenting a veneer of change where it m

More Stories


  • Cradle Correspondent
    Gaza's Smoke Clouds the West Bank's Flames: The Colonial Project Made Permanent
    10 Dec 2025
    As international eyes stay locked on Gaza, Tel Aviv is executing its most aggressive campaign of ethnic cleansing and land theft in the occupied West Bank since 1948.
  • Jill Clark-Gollub , Margaret Flowers
    First International Day Against Unilateral Coercive Measures
    10 Dec 2025
    Unilateral coercive measures, sanctions, are weapons of mass suffering. This new international day marks a global rejection of the West’s economic warfare against sovereign nations.
  • Maurice Carney
    United States Secures its National Security Interests In Congo Peace Deal
    10 Dec 2025
    The so-called "peace agreement" between Rwanda and Congo prioritizes U.S. access to mineral riches. The violence carried out against thousands of civilians continues.
  • x
    Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Year in Rear View: What the Lack of Principled and Pronounced Opposition Reveals About that US Left (Or, Why Oppressed People Best Watch Your Backs)
    10 Dec 2025
    Trump’s accelerated fascism is met with the silence of a compromised U.S. "left." Its institutions, tethered to capitalism and the Democratic Party, reveal they are part of the machine they claim to…
  • Essam Elkorghli
    De-Baathification 2.0: One Year Since the Fall of Syria
    10 Dec 2025
    Western media celebrate the terrorist they supported as Syria's savior. Syria’s new U.S.-backed rulers have erased anti-colonial history, enacted neo-liberal policies, and welcomed Israeli occupation…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us