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

…solidarity sounds like…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
10 Apr 2019
🖨️ Print Article
movement
this is what solidarity looks like...

I’m a Seoul Man, da-da-da—dat-da-da-da
I’m a Seoul Man, da-da-da—dat-da-da-da
I’m also a Pyongyang, Managua, Manilla,
Teheran Man, too—As opposed to despot
As I am to coup!
When they go high—
Pole dancing palace and peacock throne—
I go low— on my own: grassroots, salt of the earth…
Lookin’ here and there, searchin’ everywhere
for bleach, Windex, Pine Sol scents—
janitors scrubbing toilets, mopping floors;
Lookin’ for blue plumes of forklift fumes—
pallets groaning in harmony with lunch
bucket language of warehouse workers;
Lookin’ for oily mist, machines birthing
stainless steel parts on shop floors;
Listenin’ for punch presses pounding parts
out for machine tools;
Listenin’ for squealing carts of library workers;
Listenin’ for intercoms ordering nurses to stations,
bells releasing teachers to lunch
Lookin’ to stand shoulder to shoulder
with—Workers of the World

I’m a Seoul Man, da-da-da—dat-da-da-da
I’m a Seoul Man, da-da-da—dat-da-da-da
I’m also a Pyongyang, Managua, Manilla,
Teheran Man, too—As opposed to despot
As I am to coup!
When they go high—
Pole dancing palace and peacock throne—
I go low— on my own: grassroots, salt of the earth…
Lookin’ here and there, searchin’ everywhere
Listenin’ for stiffening spine, rattling chain
leaping from guitars and marching to drums;
Lookin’ for ruby banners and fiery pens;
Lookin’ for actors; not dupes and dopes
dangling on dicks of dictators, kleptocrats,
torturers, Czars—like Negroz and liberals
dangled from The Drone Ranger…

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

© 2019. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.,br/> Raymond Nat Turner is an accomplished poet and performing artist. You can find much more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com.

poetry

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


More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 7, 2025
    07 Mar 2025
    In this week’s segment we discuss the continued genocide in Gaza despite the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
  • Rikers Island
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Rikers Island, Slave Catching, and the Modern Carceral State
    07 Mar 2025
    Darren Mack is co-founder and co-director of Freedom Agenda, an organization devoted to decarceration and system transformation, including
  • A Thousand Youth for Palestine
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Israel and Complicit Middle East Countries Commit War Crimes in Gaza
    07 Mar 2025
    Dilara Sengul is a member of “A Thousand Youth for Palestine”, an organization based in Turkey that is a member of the International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine. She joins us to discuss…
  • illustration of women political figures
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    International Working Women's Day
    07 Mar 2025
    Participants in an International Working Women's Day webinar explain the importance of the day in building international solidarity.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Liberals Want War in Ukraine, Trump Wants Peace in Ukraine, But All Agree on Death in Gaza
    05 Mar 2025
    Donald Trump’s efforts to normalize relations with Russia, and to end the fighting in the Ukraine proxy war are logical and sensible. But years of whipped up anti-Russia hatred make logical solutions…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us