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


  • Isabelle Papillon
    The CPT Under the Wings of BINUH!
    29 May 2024
    The Haitian Presidential Transitional Council continues to prepare for the illegal occupation by meeting with the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).
  • Martina Manicastri , Sudip Bhattacharya
    Letter: Why Vote Uncommitted: A Vote for Peace and Justice
    29 May 2024
    The Uncommitted Movement is the means through which voters across the country are resisting forced complicity in genocide and making it clear to the Democratic Party that their positions are not as…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 24, 2024
    24 May 2024
    This week, we discuss the International Criminal Court's decision to pursue arrest warrants for Israeli government leadership and the 2024 U.S. presidential election. But first, we hear from a…
  • Austin Cole
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Repression of Palestine Solidarity at Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Part 2
    24 May 2024
    In part two of our interview, Austin Cole joins us to discuss his suspension from MIT due to his participation in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and his own experience with the attack directed by the…
  • ICC prosecutor
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    International Criminal Court Action Falls Short in Addressing Israeli War Crimes
    24 May 2024
    Ajamu Baraka joins us to discuss the International Criminal Court, the ICC, and the announcement by Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan that he is applying for arrest warrants for both Israeli and…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us