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
  • omnibus

Beirut BOOM
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
19 Aug 2020
🖨️ Print Article
Beirut BOOM
Beirut BOOM

A big BOOM—
27,000 tons of ammonium nitrate…
chemical compound for agricultural 
Fertilizer… 
‘stored’ 6 years at the port of Beirut
220 dead
5,000 injured
300,000 houseless; Millions traumatized

A big BOOM—
surgically removing cranes, grain silos,
warehouses, hospitals—billion dollar
monuments to Lebanese workers’ labor;
life-lines to wealth workers of the world
Produce

A big BOOM—
weaponizing plate glass windows—
its shockwaves overturning cars;
the crescendo crunch of shattered 
glass is heard where Coronavirus tiptoes
silently; and long, light fingers loot tacitly

A big BOOM—
and a slogan, “All of them means All of them!” 
morphs into heads of spears hurling themselves
at the capitol— at incompetent, corrupt ministers
of Environment, Justice, Information and Finance
who flee… Get out of town before sundown—before
their frightened heads are handed to them in street 
Ceremony—Louie, Louie THEY gotta GO!

We have 27,000 tons of fertilizer—orange fireball—mush-
room cloud—sitting in the War House’s Offal Office. We have
27,000 tons of fertilizer sitting on Capitalist Hill. We have
27,000 tons of fertilizer sitting in the White Supreme Court—
the Pentagon—exploding daily—sucking blood; sucking oxygen
from our planet; incinerating 170,000… Anticipating 300,000
December dead… It’s called capitalism…

© 2020. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.       

BAR’s poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.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: Poem for Walter Rodney, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, 1981  
11 June 2025
“any where or world where there is love there is the sky and its blue free
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A few lines for the Poet Ojenke...
21 May 2025
RIP: Rise In Poetics to Ra
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
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Love My Black Job
11 September 2024
Love my Black Job— Black Student Union Job! Hired at L.A. City College As “The Peoples Poet!”
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: Enemy of the Sun, Samih al-Qasim, 1970
29 May 2024
Read against the terrible incineration of Rafah today, this poem of resistance and refusal, by Pa
Image of Refaat Alareer sitting in a crowd of graduates
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023
13 December 2023
Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer, a martyr of zionist state genocidal violence, has left us with a tale of resistance and hope.
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?
Another June 1
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Another June 1
07 June 2023
                                       
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Jon Jon Moore’s “The Calling: Poems”
16 February 2022
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
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

More Stories


  • Richard Medhurst tweet
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Richard Medhurst Discusses the Terrorism Act and the Criminalization of Journalism
    06 Dec 2024
    Richard Medhurst joins us to provide an update on his case resulting from his arrest under the Terrorism Act and discuss the impact of repression on other journalists and international events.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Problem with Joe and Hunter
    04 Dec 2024
    The outrage surrounding President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter Biden is not just about clemency for the relatively minor charges he was facing. The younger Biden has lived a life of great…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Can Negroes Afford To Be Pacifists? Robert F. Williams, 1959
    04 Dec 2024
    “Non-violence is a very potent weapon when the opponent is civilised, but non-violence is no match or repellent for a sadist.”
  • Jon Jeter
    I Beg Your Pardon! People of Color Say Hunter Biden’s Clemency Represents White Privilege in Overdrive
    04 Dec 2024
    Joe Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, is viewed as hypocritical to people of color, yet given their experiences is unsurprising.
  • Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    A Tale of Two Summits: US Influence on the Decline as China and BRICS on the Rise
    04 Dec 2024
    The United States is continuing its economic battle against China in South America. However, its influence in the region is in decline as nations seek alternatives in order to forestall U.S. hegemony.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us