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


  • Edward Rhymes
    What Changes For Palestine?
    21 Oct 2026
    Disregard for Palestinian rights is a feature of Israeli politics rather than a bug. The upcoming Knesset election will change nothing for Palestinians, because every candidate across the political…
  • Orinoco Tribune
    Colombia’s First National Strike Against De la Espriella Met With Police Crackdown
    21 Oct 2026
    Thousands of people took to the streets across Colombia on Wednesday in the first national strike against President Abelardo de la Espriella’s administration, as police used tear gas, rubber bullets…
  • Issa G Shivji
    Positioning Pan-Africanism In The Geopolitical Turmoil
    21 Oct 2026
    As we are experiencing a world order in disorder, with war and conflagrations and a shifting balance of power, Issa Shivji calls for a Sovereign Pan-African Project. The analyses recap the…
  • BAR Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Report October 16, 2026
    16 Oct 2026
    In this week’s segment, we see through supposed disagreements between the US and Canada and recognize their partnership in settler colonialism, enslavement, and imperialism. But we begin with a…
  • M23
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Congo's Elite Struggle for Power While Imperialist Control and Violence Decimate the Country
    16 Oct 2026
    Joseph Kabila, former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, named himself president of the Front for the Rebuilding of the Nation. He is now formally allied with M23, the Rwanda-backed…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us