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


  • World central kitchen car
    Ali Abunimah
    How World Central Kitchen Serves Israel’s Genocidal Agenda
    10 Apr 2024
    The recent drone strike on World Central Kitchen workers exposed that organization's collusion with the Israeli and U.S. governments.
  • UN General Assembly
    Alfred de Zayas , John Perry
    UN Human Rights Council Again Supports US Regime Change Plans for Nicaragua
    10 Apr 2024
    The United States uses its power within the United Nations and the concept of human rights to cover its plans for regime change.
  • Baltimore Key Bridge collapse
    Sharon Black
    Deadly Bridge Collapse Exposes Capitalist Decay
    10 Apr 2024
    The deaths of the six Latino immigrant workers in the Baltimore bridge collapse encapsulates the injustice inherent in the U.S. capitalist system.
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio April 5, 2024
    05 Apr 2024
    This week, BAR's poet-in-residence discusses his work, we learn why Bill Clinton, the CIA director and Tony Blair recently visited Guyana. First, the Black vote and election year politics in Michigan.
  • Map of Michigan
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Black Vote and Swing State Michigan in 2024
    05 Apr 2024
    Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of Pan-African News Wire joins to discuss Michigan's Black voters, the Abandon Biden campaign, and the prospects for the swing state in the 2024 presidential election.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us