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


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Julian Assange Freed by the Prospect of Justice
    03 Jul 2024
    After seven years of asylum in Ecuador’s embassy in London and another five years imprisoned by the United Kingdom, Julian Assange is finally a free man. The prospect of justice, of Assange…
  • Trayvon Martin and Abdulrahman al-Awlaki
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Assassinations at Home and Abroad, Jemima Pierre, 2012
    03 Jul 2024
    The US Supreme Court’s decision to grant the President of the United States “absolute immunity” merely codifies criminal behavior by all US presidents. Take, for example, Barack Obama’s assassination…
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Democrats No Longer Have an Excuse for Holding a Virtual Convention
    03 Jul 2024
    Biden’s debate meltdown has Democrats scrambling, but they no longer have an excuse for holding a virtual convention.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Debate: What are elephant excrement/donkey dung ‘Double-Hater’ Millions to do?
    03 Jul 2024
    "Debate: What are elephant excrement/donkey dung ‘Double-Hater’ Millions to do?" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    Political Deadlock Continues in Efforts to Open Peace Talks in Sudan
    03 Jul 2024
    The SAF still accuses the United Arab Emirates of supporting the RSF and the crisis continues for the people of Sudan.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us