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


  • Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    Peru's Executive in Crisis: The Anti-Democratic Legacy of Fujimori's '93 Constitution
    29 Oct 2025
    Peru's congress has perfected the art of the constitutional coup, disposing of presidents the moment their usefulness expires. The removal of Dina Boluarte continues a decades-long strategy to…
  • x
    International League of Peoples' Struggle , International Peoples' Front , People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty
    The Right to Resist is the Right of the People! International Organizations Launch the International People’s Tribunal for Palestine
    29 Oct 2025
    When established institutions refuse to respond in the face of genocide, the mandate for justice falls to the people. This tribunal is a global grassroots movement taking the international law into…
  • Black Alliance For Peace , Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    Black Alliance for Peace Stands Firmly with Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution
    29 Oct 2025
    We condemn U.S. lawlessness in Our Americas and call for multinational intervention to guarantee a ‘Zone of Peace’.
  • Arturo Dominguez
    The US Plan To Pillage Latin America Is Becoming Clearer
    29 Oct 2025
    Trump Administration officials have frequently invoked the Monroe Doctrine, explaining the aggression toward Latin America.
  • Steve Salaita
    Palestine and the Making of a New New World
    29 Oct 2025
    The liberation of Palestine is, above all, a world-building project.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us