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

Hooked On Hopium
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
13 Jun 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

by Raymond Nat Turner

There will be no replay of 2008’s greatest hits, but the reflux is debilitating in the extreme – for those who got hooked on Hopium.

 

Hooked On Hopium

by Raymond Nat Turner

*Look at the people –

I know you’re wonderin’ what they’re doin’

Crawlin’ ‘round the marble

Floors lookin’ for his

Feet, and the fire be-

Longing to Boeing,

And the other Big

Boys, Negroz have hit

Rock bottom, powerless

To admit they are

Addicts who will lie,

Steal, leave their babies

And homes in hands of

The Hope Man— even

Act as accessories

To murder— ever

Since that first hit, ’08.

 

*“Look at the people—

I know you’re wonderin’ what they’re doin’

They’re just standin’ there…

Caught up in the rap-

Ture of Hopium’s

Side effects:

Stupor, paralysis,

Heart palpitations,

Ringing ears, dry mouths,

Slurred speech, confused thinking,

Hallucinations,

Delusional, schizophrenic,

Suicidal behavior…

If symptoms persist,

Longer than 4 years,

Negroz must consult

Mental health professionals

Immediately and avoid

Operating heavy equipment,

Like tanks, helicopters,

Aircraft carriers,

Armored personnel

Carriers, or drones…

 

(*Based on Bobby Blue Bland’s Blues classic “I Pity The Fool”)

Raymond Nat Turner @ 2012 All Rights Reserved

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


More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Building Black Self-Determination and Ending the Politics of Fear
    22 Jul 2026
    Black political self-determination is always tenuous, even when Black people hold office. Now that DSA and other leftists are winning elections, the contradictions of Black politics are becoming more…
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Bulletin on Domestic Militarism and Repression - Vol. 1 Issue #4
    22 Jul 2026
    The National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 (NSPM-7) reveals dangerous policies that many don't know exist. It is a domestic counterinsurgency mechanism that criminalizes anti-fascist organizing…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    INTERVIEW: How the Cuban Revolution was Made, Fidel Castro, 1979
    22 Jul 2026
    “In other words, people revolted against the system. But they did not know that the system was called capitalism.”
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Marco Rubio Represents a Clear and Present Threat to Global Climate Liberation…So Why is the U.S. Climate “Movement” Ignoring Him?
    22 Jul 2026
    The climate crisis is first and foremost a crisis caused by the U.S. denying other nations their sovereignty through imperialist violence, but the U.S. climate movement is more comfortable talking…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Slimy green cesspool reflecting capitalist rule
    22 Jul 2026
    "Slimy green cesspool reflecting capitalist rule" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us