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

Piece Process
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
23 May 2018
🖨️ Print Article
Israeli sniper prepares to implement the piece process.
Israeli sniper prepares to implement the piece process.

Breathe, Relax, Aim, Sight, Squeeze
it’s a joy-stick; a video game to him
He has orders to “light up” anything that moves;
“Mow the grass, one blade at a time…” “One shot,
one kill…”
So far, he’s bagged a man on crutches, 3 disabled, 2 children

Azriel stalks victims in the valley of death; studies
them through his scope; taking careful aim; punching
tight little holes in heads and torsos—distant targets—
They’re sudden spray, pink haze floating above spots
where they stood. No regret. No sorrow for families…

A plume of black smoke from flaming tires curls
into his crosshairs, his snake eyes nesting in sand—
a nano second too late—
Another child’s head ‘clashes’
with a butterfly bullet from a
football field away—
Crimson skull fragments
explode from the grapefruit-sized exit wound;
Spent cartridges, his ‘kill brass,’ pile up in the
sand…
Ah, the rules of engagement
What’s bone, arteries—another amputated leg—
got to do with it/the piece process: shoot one man,
Terrify a thousand? Don’t ‘our’ finest train there?

poerty

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


Related Stories

Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?
BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
Ready for the Roaring ‘20s?
08 January 2020
This Orange Age outrage— Reich of the child’s cage Cancer at fourth stage— Rogue state’s rampage…

More Stories


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Congo Activists to NBA: Black Lives Matter in DRC, Cut Ties with Rwanda
    19 Feb 2025
    As Rwandan troops tightened their grip on the capitals of DRC’s Kivu Provinces, activists protested the National Basketball Association’s close collaboration with the Rwandan regime.
  • Erica Caines , Clau O'Brien Moscoso
    Prison Imperialism: A Critical Examination of Bukele’s Deal with the U.S
    19 Feb 2025
    The deal for a prisoner exchange proposed by the El Salvadoran president presents a dangerous threat to incarcerated people in the U.S. The continued outsourcing of the U.S. penal system…
  • Jon Jeter
    Another Love TKO: Falling Marriage Rates Stagger Black Family Formation, and Community Development
    19 Feb 2025
    The economic stress on African American people shows itself in phenomena like marriage rates. What once was a benefit to Black communities and a path to the middle class, marriage is becoming…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    STICKUP: MORE for the GREEDY; less for the needy!!
    19 Feb 2025
    "STICKUP: MORE for the GREEDY; less for the needy!!" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Nato Koury
    Guantánamo Bay’s forgotten history of detaining Haitian migrants
    19 Feb 2025
    The threats by the Trump administration to detain migrants in Guantanamo Bay will not be the first time the United States has used the facility for migrant detention. Not too long ago,…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us