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

1st 100 Days— Portland  
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
16 Sep 2020
🖨️ Print Article
1st 100 Days— Portland 
1st 100 Days— Portland 

I have a friend—some-
time bandmate—Daily…
Whining, wringing his hands.
Distressed and depressed—
anxious and agitated—he
Knows nuclear war and
Armageddon are on the
agenda if Boss Tweet’s
Back—big lies, gas-lighting
another four years…

My meditation 
and its compassion
keep me from screaming,
“Come on out of that
cannabis cloud, read 
writing on other walls—
smell some sub rosa
burgeoning of black

lives—smell the Resistance!”

Instead, I celebrate long stem red roses stretching
Seattle, City of Angels, Tha Town, Minneapolis,
Kenosha, Atlanta, Louisville, Baltimore, Ferguson—
Chicago-Red State teachers’ strikes to The City of Roses!

Instead, I celebrate The City of Roses—
Red roses metastasizing in teargas;
Red roses blooming beneath baton blows—
springing up on Solidarity Street, opening
behind Walls of Moms
Red roses kidnapped in camouflaged fertilizer—
blooming behind walls of ICE; flowering in fascism:
foul compost of a wilting, shriveling empire…
Red roses exploding in FOX-box foot-soldiers’ faces—
silencing lying lawyers;
Red roses burgeoning in blood of John Browns:
Red roses entangled in blue-violent pigmented
thorns—blue symbolizing mystery: How thorns
are being Overcome…

© 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

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Army of Artists (For My Friend Horace Silver)
17 December 2025
Harmony of a hug,Rhythm of a rose,Melody in the mirror
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!”
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
MrJoeSam’s Text Messages
12 June 2024
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR’s poet-in-residence, pays homage to San Francisco’s shipyard artist JoeSam who died peacefully on June 1, 2024, surroun
Raymond Nat Turner
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Dis-honest Broker
01 May 2024
"Dis-honest Broker" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence, recently performed at UpSurge!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner at the UpSurge Jazz Celebration
03 April 2024
 
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
                                       

More Stories


  • Activists Demand Report on the NYPD Gang Database
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Activists Demand Report on the NYPD Gang Database
    02 Dec 2022
    Rigodis Appling has been a public defender in Manhattan for 17 years. She is currently working in the Special Litigation and Community Justice Unit at The Legal Aid Society. She is also a founding…
  • Cleveland Mayor Breaks Campaign Promise on Community Control of Police
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Cleveland Mayor Breaks Campaign Promise on Community Control of Police
    02 Dec 2022
    Taru Taylor is a freelance journalist based in Cleveland, where he focuses on the issue of police reform. He recently wrote an op-ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about that city’s mayor,…
  • Worthy and Unworthy Protest on the Critical Hour
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Worthy and Unworthy Protest on the Critical Hour
    02 Dec 2022
    Margaret Kimberley appeared on the November 30, 2022 edition of Sputnik's The Critical Hour with co-hosts Garland Nixon and Dr. Wilmer Leon. They discussed her latest Black Agenda Report column,…
  • WINTER IS COMING for Ukraine and Taiwan with Garland Nixon, Margaret Kimberley and Danny Haiphong
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    WINTER IS COMING for Ukraine and Taiwan with Garland Nixon, Margaret Kimberley and Danny Haiphong
    30 Nov 2022
    Margaret Kimberley and Garland Nixon join Danny Haiphong on The Left Lens discussing social media censorship, Ukraine, China, and the contradictions of US imperialism
  • EXCERPT: Brussels Conference Act of 1890
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    EXCERPT: Brussels Conference Act of 1890
    30 Nov 2022
    The 1890 Brussels Act provided Europeans with the legal and humanitarian justification for the colonization of Africa. Why have so few heard of it?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us