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

if it takes 100 years
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
06 Dec 2017
🖨️ Print Article
if it takes 100 years

I am the North Star—
Hope; Never wavering, organizing,
burning thorough bars, walls, wire—
I am consciousness of all
creatures, crystalline water,
clean, sweet air, black soil
From forgotten reservations

I am non-GMO, organic apples,
pears, lettuce, tomatoes, spinach
Springing from beads of sweat
mixed with midnight oil—
I am not the latest sneakers, phones
from Black Friday Madness,
Celebrity Worship or
Dumbed-down gossip ‘bout ‘stars’

I am coagulated blood
of gunned down doctors wafting from
Women’s reproductive rights—
Flowering from fertilizer of guilt
I am freedom, loving
Whomever I choose…

I am single-payer
Healthcare rising from Big Pharma
body-slams/lies of lobotomized politicians;
I am affordable housing
clubbed from corrugated cardboard sleep;
I am free education—
Peace studies writhing free of
handcuffs, cutting off circulation…
I am smoldering ashes of a
burned down Black Baptist Church
Repudiating ‘race’ with pain

I am revolution—
Socialism passing freely, back and forth
between metal detectors/bomb-sniffing dogs—
Arriving just moments ago:
…Having been here forever…

Raymond Nat Turner © 2017 All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performing artist. Find much more of his work 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.


More Stories


  • Black Alliance For Peace
    Syria: The Return to the Scene of Obama’s Crime
    11 Dec 2024
    The US regime change campaign against Syria began after Barack Obama succeeded in destroying the Libyan state. All of his successors followed the same playbook.
  • Ramzy Baroud
    ‘Genocide’ vs ‘Bigger Genocide’ in Gaza: Time to Decolonize Our Minds
    11 Dec 2024
    Regardless of conditions, Palestinian people have agency of thought and will not see themselves through the prism of colonization.
  • NefasitPost
    Biden’s Last-Ditch Agenda and Western Media’s Smear Campaign: Eritrea’s Resolve Amid Hostility
    11 Dec 2024
    Eritrea defies relentless Western hostility with unwavering self-reliance and resilience. The Biden administration is pursuing a last-ditch effort to vilify Eritrea and continue its agenda of…
  • Lallan Schoenstein
    Wage stagnation: The real threat to Social Security
    11 Dec 2024
    Claims that the Social Security system is failing often omit the negative impact of stagnant and low wages for US workers.
  • No Nuclear War
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Margaret Kimberley speaks at the No Nuclear War Conference - National Press Club in Washington
    11 Dec 2024
    On December 7, 2024, Scott Ritter convened a panel at the National Press Club in Washington to discuss the increasing risk of nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Margaret Kimberley was…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us