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

War Criminal Straw Spun to Fools Gold Hero
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
29 Aug 2018
🖨️ Print Article
John McCain, 1936-2018

Looking up at stars and stripes

flapping half staff over City College

my spirit sang, “Oh, me oh my…”

They’re honoring natural

Woman—singer of soul songs!

Celebrating gospel’s gift to the 

World—giving thanks to indigo 

Blues crossing borders, gathering tribes…

 

Instead, I find,“It’s a Barnum and

Bailey world, just as phony as it can be—”

Half staff flags—saluting somber war-

profiteers…

Warlords of Wall Street who lost their 

Hawk, their mythical maverick…

 

Their Satanic scribblers are spinning,

spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning

High fructose corn syrup sentiments—

Stinking solvent scrubbing blood up from

4 million Indochinese—lionizing their hawk 

Slurring heroic homeland defenders: “gooks!”

 

Our Silly Putty populace with Play

Dough politics—No flashbacks of

Body counts on evening news; No 

Smoke from smoldering draft cards; 

No dinner table blowups; No memory of

Militant chants keeping time for 

Millions of marching feet…is

Confused!  

Blitzkrieg bombards them hourly…

parroting Psy-Op big lie after big lie;

Toasting Jim Jones Juice to the heavens for a

War criminal crooner—would-be Beach Boy:

“Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb Iran…”

 

A war criminal

who flew—

no Zinn moment—

who 

bombed 

who flew

who 

bombed 

who flew

who 

bombed

who flew 

who 

bombed

and 

bombed

and 

bombed

day after day

Bomb bay opening—not with rice, or roses

rechristening children ‘Collateral Damage’

22 missions—his 23rd shot down over Hanoi;

Left—no Zinn moment…with parachute and

flight suit for his 5yr stay

 

Today warheads mourn; forked tongues wagging 

feverishly…no Zinn moment…face-lifting the life—

So in love with death…

 

© 2018. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Our poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished perforning artist of long and illustrious standing. Find more of his work at http://upsurgejazs.com

 

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

poetry

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Reflections after the June 12th March of Disarmament, Sonia Sanchez, 1982
18 December 2024
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage
Protest for Palestine at the White House
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Trigger Warning
22 November 2023
Trigger Warning Palestine’s the Answer— What was the Question?
Our ‘democracy’
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Our ‘democracy’
23 July 2021
Shangri-La—untaxed, socially-distanced champagne- caviar, Cayman Island, yacht crowds who
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Pigment of your Imagination: Black magic mascots, props and sops?
15 July 2021
Could the pigment of your imagination cause Black magic mascots, props, sops— Black faces in high places—
A known known…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A known known…
08 July 2021
“…there are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Twerkers of the World you might…(Or when they go low we get high?)
01 July 2021
“History repeats itself,  first as tragedy, second as farce.” —Karl Marx
The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Town Crier’s Big Tooth Fund (For Drs. Rosenthal, Sapir and Ferdowsi)
23 June 2021
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs…” —Karl Marx
The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Town Crier’s List of Who’s Who in the capitalist state machine
16 June 2021
“Ain’t no power like the power of the people— ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop!” bouncing 
Ladee Blu: Another Monroe Doctrine delivery system 
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Ladee Blu: Another Monroe Doctrine delivery system 
09 June 2021
Raytheon’s craven raven Co-signing for mass murder: “Mowing the grass…” Now… Ladee Blu on a fool’s errand dis- seminating
MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MOVE Tulsa to Gaza…
02 June 2021
The Mass Shooting Of The Day— this time was in San Jose… Do you know the way to San Jose?

More Stories


  • BAR Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio September 11, 2026
    11 Sep 2026
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the 55th anniversary and legacy of the 1971 Attica prison revolt. But we begin with the history of W.E.B. Du Bois and his struggle against the domestic repression…
  • Orisanmi Burton
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Orisanmi Burton, "Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt"
    11 Sep 2026
    Orisanmi Burton is the author of "Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt." As we commemorate the 55th anniversary of the 1971 Attica rebellion, Burton…
  • Gerald Horne
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Gerald Horne, "Black and Red: Du Bois and the Afro American response to the Cold War, 1944-63"
    11 Sep 2026
    Our guest is Dr. Gerald Horne, who discusses his newly republished International Publishers book, “Black and Red: Du Bois and the Afro-American response to the Cold War, 1944-63, the 40th anniversary…
  • x
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Dimitri Lascaris
    Is the U.S.-Venezuela Oil Deal A Terrible Deal For Venezuela? w/ Ajamu Baraka
    09 Sep 2026
    Donald Trump and Interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez have announced a 'historic' oil deal between the United States and Venezuela. Although the terms remain murky, the deal appears extremely…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Hakeem Jeffries, Monkeys, Errand Boys, and Black Misleadership
    09 Sep 2026
    Hakeem Jeffries climbs the political ladder because he engages in dirty deeds with the world’s worst people. Being called a monkey gives him an easy out. The presence of a Black face in a high place…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us