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

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Apr 2022
🖨️ Print Article
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky CBS 60 Minutes Interview (Photo: Eric Kerchner CBS)

                                                                                       Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……,

                                                                                 “If you don’t have a broken heart—

                                                                                                  get one…”

                                                                                     —Poet Jack Hirschman

 

QUIET ON THE SET. ROLL SOUND. Sound Rolling.  ROLL CAMERA. Camera Speed. MARKER. ACTION:

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Quiet on the set…

Quit crying… What, are you stupid? Haven’t you heard of

stuntmen—special effects? These are actors. Great actors!

Studied under Stanislavsky. This is staged. A cast of

thousands. Why, this mass evacuation’s straight outta

Eisenstein! Actors were instructed to flashback on family

photos in their back packs. Think about tricycles, toys, stuffed

animals left be hind with baby books, keepsakes, clothes and

favorite foods…

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Quiet on the set…

Quit crying…This ain’t no Amos & Andy operation

like Libya, Ethiopia, The Congo, or Aleppo. This is major—

Armorers; Grips; Gaffers; Casting Directors; Script Supervisors;

Catering Crew—special effects alone cost more than most films!

Surround sound’s realism’s off the chain… The bomb, huh? How

cool’s all the air conditioners hanging from blown out windows?

Almost got you believin’ the buildings are really damaged?

Almost got you believin' that’s really rubble, huh? Almost got

you believin’ rust’s real on those perforated cars; and crying and

moaning you’re hearing’s real? These are actors— Brilliant

actors—studied Shakespeare!

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Quiet on the set…

Quit crying… Your dogs ain’t dead. They trained with Cesar Millan.

They’ll rise up running like Lassie, barking like Toto—partying Spuds

McKenzie-style—at the stentorian command, “Cut!”

Your photographer friend and the young journalist who frequented

the coffee shop ain’t dead. They’ll rise, hearing, “Cut!” and shooting

will Stop… Your loved ones ain’t dead. They’re professional. They’ll leap up for

Lunch; stuff bloody brain tissue back into their skulls; stuff guts

back in their bodies, scurry over to the Catering Crew, grab bites

between

Lunch and dinner with cast and crew—when the Director shouts: “Cut!”

Wow, isn’t this staged shit cool?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…Quiet on the set…

Quit crying… Dig the dancing stormtroopers, the combat

Chippendales rootin’ rebels; dancin’ the De-nazify—must

be a musical? Springtime anyone?

Wait, watch Ringling Brothers of Rhetoric riding dragons, donkeys,

elephants, pandas and bears from history, while rattling off hat sizes of

czars and other minutiae! Watch Ringling Brothers of Rhetoric dangling

from dicks of dictators; sucking off oligarchs,strongmen, kleptocrats/state

capitalist clowns at the speed of sound— As a shirtless horseman gallops

into the sunset with bulging saddle bags for himself and The Nationalist

International…Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved

Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet;

BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC.

You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Hanna Eid
    Whole Process People's Democracy: The Path Forward
    14 May 2025
    Growing socialist and people's democratic projects, as in China and Bolivia, must be seen as examples of how revolutionary forces in the United States can build a system of governance. 
  • The Cradle News Desk
    US Abandons 'Hamas Disarmament' Demands in Gaza Truce Talks: Report
    14 May 2025
    A reported rift between Trump and Netanyahu continues to widen ahead of the US president's first visit to West Asia since regaining power.
  • Tennyson S.D. Joseph
    False Promises, False Hopes: The Africa-CARICOM Summit
    14 May 2025
    A forward-looking critique of African and Caribbean collaborations embodied in the Africa-Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe
    DRC- Rwanda Agreement Could Prove Disastrous for African Great Lakes
    14 May 2025
    The United States' role in Central Africa has resulted in regional war and mass casualties.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 9, 2025
    09 May 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe in World War II, and the disinformation that centers on the U.S.'s role and dismisses the pivotal Soviet role in that…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us