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

Deliver us from lesser evil…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Sep 2018
🖨️ Print Article
deliver us from lesser evil
front row at Aretha's funeral

Star-struck, in childlike

awe of celestial

Voices, silver tongues;

I spent seven hours

glued to the screen—

back in the Baptist Church,

Celebrating, honoring the

humanitarian, North Star

Shero—genius in her field!

What a day, imbibing

Mighty Black Music!

Joyful noise, Lake Michigan-

sized magnet, gathering forces

elbow to elbow—

Enemies, Orange Age

Allies on the clock…

Basking in reflected light,

Assassins, informants, jailers,

Mouthpieces, mass murderers,

super predators, slutty professors

came riding, riding, riding, riding

bare-back, backwards on a

Donkey to The D.

Riding in corporate coats

of many logos—then

Limboing their way

Center stage, tracking

donkey dung down the

red carpet; playing

our emotions, our

Souls, our strength—

our Achilles’ heel

like plastic kazoos:

resurrecting the

Democratic Party…

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

Our poet in residence, Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed 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


  • Socialist Movement of Ghana , Dhoruba bin-Wahad
    Statement of Condemnation of the Plan to Have Emmanuel Macron Deliver a Keynote Address on Reparations in Ghana
    10 Jun 2026
    The Socialist Movement of Ghana declared its strong opposition to their government's invitation to French president Emmanuel Macron to speak at a conference on reparations.
  • Carlos Martinez
    Siege Socialism or Barbarism: Why We Must Stand with Cuba
    10 Jun 2026
    Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are astounding, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Report June 5, 2026
    05 Jun 2026
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the US effort to control the world’s oil and gas supplies in Venezuela, Iran, and other nations, and to disrupt and steal supplies going to and from Russia and Ch
  • Boycott FIFA
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley , ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    "Move the Games": Take the FIFA World Cup Out of the U.S. and Boycott the Host Country Itself
    05 Jun 2026
    Ajamu Baraka is a Black Agenda Report contributing editor and Director of the North-South Project for People(s)-Centered Human Rights. The North-South Project is among the organizations calling for…
  • Map
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley , Richard Medhurst
    Iran, Venezuela, Ukraine, Greenland, and the U.S. Heist of the World's Oil and Gas Supply
    05 Jun 2026
    Richard Medhurst discusses his latest investigative reporting, “The Petrogas-Dollar: The Secret US Strategy Behind the Iran War," an analysis of the latest iteration of U.S. hegemony. The U.S. is…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us