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
  • omnibus

Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
01 Jul 2021
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)

“History repeats itself,  first as tragedy, second as farce.” —Karl Marx

Bleach barker, low-Barr, last days of Pompeo—of
Decaying empire; of paper towel-tossing, pussy-
grabbing presidents… An a couple of big black
booties—a couple of pumping rumps are atop an
Ambulance as it attempts to transport mass murder victim #
300 something to some pay or die hospital; day 170 of the yr.

“If it bleeds it leads…” “If it twerks it works!”
Pulling the plug on police abolition and defunding dialogue; on
Green New Deal discussion; on climate catastrophe-drought/fire
Talks; And extinguishing street heat vaccines for the virus of
Lynching. 
Troll Patrol in tow—Multibillionaire media has its game plan…

Booties call attention to themselves, gyrating, pulsating and
pumping atop an ambulance after another
Suspicious shooting sows shell casings of confusion. After another
Suspicious shooting—Spring Psy-Op— acts as a lobotomy erasing 
memory of movement more grounded—less Ass—more Mass, more
Class in character—a fiery movement of rainbow millions!

Twerkers of the World, you might… wanna rewind to yesteryear(?)
Flickering embers of two decades that scorched apartheid. Dark,
difficult days after the champagne-caviar Cayman Island 
Class killed King and LAPD did Israeli things to Palestinian-like
people of Watts. Days when a Watts Writers Workshop poet penned the
Poem with jarring title: “Ain’t no ambulances for no nigguhs tonight…” *

*Before he became 2005 Police Benevolent Association Man of the Year.

© 2021. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished poet and performing artist, and an official of the National Writers Union. Find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at [email protected]

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

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 I
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!”
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 r
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.
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                                                                              Another June 1  
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    War Propaganda, State Controlled Media, and the End of African Stream
    25 Jun 2025
    African Stream's Pan-African, anti-imperialist journalistic perspectives made it the target of a state that colludes with corporate media to spread war propaganda.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    POEM: The Beirut Jokebook, June Jordan, 1982
    25 Jun 2025
    “What did the Arab lady say to the Israeli tank?”
  • x
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    The Tactical Failure of Israel/U.S. Attacks on Iran Is Leading Both to a Strategic Disaster
    25 Jun 2025
    The U.S. and Israel’s unchecked aggression has plunged the world into a lawless state of imperial violence—yet their latest attacks on Iran have only exposed the limits of colonial power. As Western…
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Rwanda: Victoire Ingabire Must Not Suffer the Fate of Kizito Mihigo
    25 Jun 2025
    Kizito Mihigo and Victoire Ingabire both challenged Rwanda's foundational genocide narrative. He died in jail, and she is now in custody.
  • Jon Jeter
    Unable to Reinvent Itself, Dems Can’t Capitalize on Trump’s Missteps
    25 Jun 2025
    The Democratic Party is in crisis—divided, broke, and struggling to counter Trump’s agenda despite growing public backlash. Internal battles over strategy and leadership have left the DNC paralyzed.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us