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

Last Days of Pompeo…or of ‘Identity’ Politics?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
21 Mar 2018
🖨️ Print Article
waterboarding
It's not waterboarding if it's deisel, and it's not torture if she's leaning in.

His lips gurgled watery words,
his nostrils were an aching incinerator…
Still, she taunted and tormented him about
his acting; after she’d ordered him
Water-boarded for the 83rd time…

Screams were symphonies when she ran
her Black Site—and NO, Negroz, it wasn’t
a place you could go get your groove on—
Wasn’t Cloud 9, or Psychedelic Shack—and NO,
Negroz, these mad monsters are not nice, like in
Movies…Wrecking central nervous systems,
Demolishing personalities, making healthy people
Helpless ain’t nothin’ but a party to them…

and when her confirmation hearing comes,
You may wanna ask Lady Sadist: Does she
Pine for rack and wheel, thumbscrew times?
Would she have personally presented Natives with
smallpox-enhanced blankets; presided over Tuskegee
syphilis experiments—or been a gleeful guard at Auschwitz
or Buchenwald?
Does she meditate watching Mengele movies? Does she
Masturbate to torture tapes—cackling, “Who says
Torture doesn’t work?” Does she devour human flesh,
sans Hannibal Lecter mask?

There’s blood on her hands—
is it from smashing the glass ceiling?

Raymond Nat Turner © 2018 All Rights Reserved

Raymond Nat Turner is BAR's poet in residence. You can find much more of his work, and how to contact or book him at http://upsurgejazz.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

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
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?
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
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
15 July 2021
Could the pigment of your imagination cause Black magic mascots, props, sops— Black faces in high places—
A known known…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A known known…
08 July 2021
“…there are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
01 July 2021
“History repeats itself,  first as tragedy, second as farce.” —Karl Marx
The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
23 June 2021
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs…” —Karl Marx
The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
16 June 2021
“Ain’t no power like the power of the people— ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop!” bouncing 
Ladee Blu: Another Monroe Doctrine delivery system 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Ladee Blu: Another Monroe Doctrine delivery system 
09 June 2021
Raytheon’s craven raven Co-signing for mass murder: “Mowing the grass…” Now… Ladee Blu on a fool’s errand dis- seminating
MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
02 June 2021
The Mass Shooting Of The Day— this time was in San Jose… Do you know the way to San Jose?

More Stories


  • Black-Outs, ‘Black Lives Matter’ and Black Power
    Erica Caines
    Black-Outs, ‘Black Lives Matter’ and Black Power
    17 Jun 2020
    Community control of police and prison abolition have been completely removed from the conversations dictated by a mainstream and complacent narrative.
  • Caribbean Workers and Capitalist Geography: An interview with Marion Werner
    The Public Archive
    Caribbean Workers and Capitalist Geography: An interview with Marion Werner
    17 Jun 2020
    Global Displacements is an examination of the impact of the global organization of capitalist accumulation and exploitation on the life and labor of Haitian and Dominica
  • Update on Charges Against the Venezuela Embassy Protectors
    Ajamu Baraka and Bahman Azad
    Update on Charges Against the Venezuela Embassy Protectors
    17 Jun 2020
    It was agreed that dropping the federal charges and seeking no jail time in return for pleading to a very low-level DC Code charge was an important victory.
  • Political ABCs: Maybe the Difference between a “Cop” and a “Crook” is Just a Badge
    T.P. Wilkinson
    Political ABCs: Maybe the Difference between a “Cop” and a “Crook” is Just a Badge
    17 Jun 2020
    What has recently been condemned as corrupt and brutal policing is actually consistent with historical tradition of localized repression.
  • Stolen Breaths
     Rachel R. Hardeman, Ph.D., M.P.H., Eduardo M. Medina, M.D., M.P.H., Rhea W. Boyd, M.D., M.P.H.
    Stolen Breaths
    17 Jun 2020
    Demonstrators are laying bare the deep pain that persists for black people fighting to live under the crushing weight of injustice that has long been at our necks.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us