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

A Poet's Proposal for DT's Inauguration
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Jan 2017
šŸ–Øļø Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Word is that president-elect Donald Trump still has performance openings for next week's inaugural. In the selfless and noble spirit of public service, our poet kindly offers his own services, and anxiously awaits a response from Rump tower.

A Poet's Proposal for DT's Inauguration

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Bet you wonderin’ how I knew

Few are willin’ to perform for you?

I heard it through the grapevine

Also on TV, radio and online…

I ain’t A-list—

F-list, maybe?

Not a seven-figga n**** or War House Hoet in the

Retinue the Drone Ranger plays like plastic kazoos—

Yet, I’m willing to serve, sir:

Call it Patriot Act III!

Willing to audition, practice, rehearse—gratis—

get on the back of a Greyhound bus, brown bag,

greasy fried chicken, like the good ol’ days…

Apply a plastic smile, applaud on cue, shuffle, shake hands with

Strong-arm Williams, Sheriff Stephen Judas Clarke, Thom-ass

Clarence, and other warlike Bassackwards Tribal leaders

I’m willing to get William Withers with you, sir:

It’s my appointed duty

To let you use me

Get me in a crowd of right-wing racists and act real rude to me—

ā€˜Cause I wanna spread the news:

That if it trends this good gettin’ used

Come on, use me ā€˜til you use me up—

My fifteen-minutes of FLAME!!

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. 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


  • Alex Saab Is Free
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Alex Saab Is Free
    22 Dec 2023
    After three years of illegal captivity by the United States, Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab was freed in a prisoner exchange.
  • Palm Springs Survivors
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Descendants and Survivors of the Displaced Palm Springs Black Community Demand Restitution
    22 Dec 2023
    The Black families of Palm Springs' Section 14 were forcibly displaced from their community when city officials developed the area for luxury tourism. Section 14 survivors and their descendants are…
  • Haitian flag
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Construction of the Ouanaminthe Canal in Haiti, Part 2
    22 Dec 2023
    Dahoud Andre joins us from KOMOKODA, the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti.
  • PAIGC
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The PAIGC Struggle for Democracy in Guinea-Bissau
    22 Dec 2023
    We're joined by Imani Umoja of the PAIGC (African Party of Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) and the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, the steering committee of the Black Alliance for…
  • Image of the CARICOM headquarters
    Isabelle Papillon
    The Great CARICOM Bluff
    20 Dec 2023
    The presence of CARICOM in Haiti to mediate talks is believed to be merely a smokescreen to further deceive the popular masses and continue the ruin of the country.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us