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Nuclear white-male…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
15 Mar 2022
Nuclear white-male…
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin meet in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021 (Mikhail Metzel/Pool Photo via AP)

                                                                                                                     Nuclear white-male…
                                                                                                           “All governments are run by liars
                                                                                                    and nothing they say should be believed.”
                                                                                                                        —I.F. Stone

I.
Maybe my Poetic License was pulled when I
let go of Leprechauns, Santa Claus and Tooth
Fairies? Maybe my Race Card was canceled
when I wrote “LOL” on “Black Lives Matter?”
Maybe my access to bunkers of Bassackwards
Tribesmen Thom-ass Clarence and Strong-arm
Williams went poof! Maybe fine print on my
Race Card always read: “Drop to your knees,
cover your head and kiss your ass goodbye?”
But, “Neither one of us wants to be the first to say
Goodbye…”

II.

The gangsta who’s nuked threatens the world
weekly in gangsta code: “All options are on
the table…” And a rival gangsta just delivered
less veiled fire and brimstone for Our Planet…

Delivering rogue State of The Union
the gangsta who nuked blew his cover—bleating—
“I’m a Capitalist!” The other gangsta—intelligence/wet work
oligarch—owns French Riviera, London, Manhattan, Miami
mansions complimenting jet, yacht, Caribbean bank
account…

Neither nuclear white male briefed my black ass
‘bout encrypted back channels for dividing the
World into ‘spheres of influence’…In
to multibillion dollar deals—ports, plants, wells, mines,
factories—Before shooting and looting began in earnest…

Neither nuclear white male briefed my black ass—
‘bout brinksmanship, Wolfowitz Doctrine and other
Nuclear Armageddon games for reigning radiation on our rain bow
parade; For snapping food-chains like cheap necklaces; For gifting
survivors cool cancers/birth defects beyond “The Day After…”
Neither nuclear white male briefed my black ass—
‘bout cloudy mushroom plans. Neither brought me to
the Table to talk about incinerating Mother Earth’s
peaceful  Working people… Neither pulled my coat
‘bout hitting  Harlem, Oakland, Odessa, Siberia, Skid
Row sacrifice  zones and/or unhoused encampments…

Neither nuclear white male briefed my black ass
‘bout their plans to make me blue—Unlike Euros
I know who often go exclaiming, “We bombed
Iraq! We bombed Afghanistan! We bombed Vietnam!
We sanctioned…We overthrew…We
tortured…We…?”

Maybe dark skin keeps me in the dark—iridescent shadows of Arab
Spring-George Floyd Summer-Striketober— With warehouse and
grocery workers whispering unionization Plans? Nurses fighting
fiercely for PPE; Students/teachers/parents, Hunger strikers
struggling—keeping schools open? …WE “heard it through the
grapevine…”
 

© 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: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT

Biden
Putin
nuclear weapons
Russia

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