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


  • Cuba
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    U.S. Continues Economic Warfare Against Cuba
    29 Mar 2024
    Isaac Saney discusses recent events in Cuba, where shortages of food and electricity caused by U.S. sanctions have resulted in popular discontent, but also a continued commitment to resist.
  • ICSGP
    The International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine (IGCSP) Global Call to Action
    27 Mar 2024
    The International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine invited all signatory organizations to join a global call on Sunday, March 17, 2024 to share the ways groups are working to build public…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The People's Ceasefire
    27 Mar 2024
    The United States relented and abstained from voting on a UN Security Council resolution requiring Israel to abide by a two-week ceasefire. Popular pressure forced this small step. Organized…
  • Map of Haiti and Africa
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SUMMARY: The U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability 10-Year Strategic Plan for Haiti, U.S. Department of State, March 24, 2023
    27 Mar 2024
    The US has a 10-Year Plan to pacify and occupy Haiti using tactics that try to hide its imperial motives. Last week, it was deleted from the website of the US Embassy in Haiti.
  • Solino mobilization
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Haitian State Is Neo-colonized, Not “Failed”
    27 Mar 2024
    ​​​​​​​Ann Garrison spoke to Professor Danny Shaw, who speaks fluent Haitian Creole and returned from his last trip to Haiti one month ago.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us