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

Tuesday Takeout
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
08 Nov 2016
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Terror Tuesday is what the White House calls the basement meetings at which the First Black President profiles and targets individuals and groups of people for summary assassination anywhere from Somalia to Standing Rock. Before Donald Trump even assumes the Oval Office, it's already the new normal.

Tuesday Takeout

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

The Commander has a menu:

Yemeni youth at an outdoor café

Grandmother, grandsons gardening okra

in Afghanistan

Hospital in Pakistan

Menu for us, too:

BP Seafood in Sauce of Crude

Gasoline Spill Soup

Bomb Train Tatar

Baked Buffoon’s overdone—

Stinks—like food poison on a plate;

PTS: Permission To Shudder,

Clinging to crimson combat boots

Of Golda-plated Iron Lady

Haliburton, Boeing, General Dynamic,

Monsanto, Exxon Chefs cut corners,

substitute cuts, pass off overpriced,

over-spiced, sodium-laden,

Empty calorie dishes as democracy

We have a menu too:

To our left, two doors down

Resistance Buffet—new dishes constantly—

Ain’t cheap—but all you can eat—filling,

stick to your ribs, seconds are cool—

Even thirds, fourths…of:

Lunch Counter Sit-in

Mass Meeting

Arab Spring Rolls

Tunisian Salad

Standing Rock Soup

Wildcat Strike

Ferguson Fries

Bus Boycott

Occupy/ Wisconsin Coffee

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016
All Rights Reserved

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. You can find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com

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


More Stories


  • Brazil
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    How Lula Won in Brazil
    30 Oct 2026
    Robert Wilson analyzes Lula da Silva's comeback from defeat in the first round of voting in Brazil's presidential election.
  • Margaret and Sabby
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , Sabby Sabs
    Trump ABANDONS Gulf States! Iran Base HIT!
    28 Oct 2026
    BAR Executive Editor Margaret Kimberley joined Sabby Sabs to analyze recent developments in West Asia.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Twenty Years of Black Agenda Report
    28 Oct 2026
    Reaching a 20th anniversary for Black Agenda Report is indeed a milestone. But longevity alone is not what makes this publication special to thousands of readers. BAR’s principled journalistic…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    POEM: O.A.S., Roque Dalton, circa 1970
    28 Oct 2026
    “The President of the United States is more/ the President of my country/ than the President of my country.”
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Rubio, France’s Student Uprising, and the Politics of Ethnic Cleansing in Europe
    28 Oct 2026
    Marco Rubio's speeches invoking a shared Western civilization are part of the ideological consolidation of fascism, mobilizing white racial solidarity to defend a declining capitalist order.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us