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

State of the Union—or state of Capitalist decay?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
12 Mar 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Donald Trump State of the Union
Photo: ABC News

“Every man for himself
and the devil take the hindmost.”

Something’s soothing, lobotomizing, about the snotty
Voice flooding from Fox-boxes. Something’s
Lobotomizing about an ignorant comedian coming to
Kill—but bombing—yet, still killing …

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists—
Springing up at every absurd utterance and
Thunder of rattling rubbish. Their hand bones
Fracturing from clapping so damn loud—so long …

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists
Springing up like they got the Holy Ghost! Fits of
Ecstasy applauding poor people used as props—
Mascots—human shields for class war’s unpopular policies

Something’s soothing about Jumping Jack Fascists
Springing up, sane-washing a lipsticked pig. And face-
Lifting lies about capitalism’s impossible promises to
The People …

Forked tongue tour de force— False from beginning to
End. 1hour, 40 minute Mussolini masterpiece. Il DOGE
Smashed Dr. Goebbels’ Guinness Book of Records for
Orwellian wizardry: misinformation/disinformation/1/2 truths/big lies.

Barren make believe desert. Echo chamber of hollow mockery—
Hypocrisy, humbuggery/thuggery, treachery, treason, truth-less-
Ness and alternative facts where up is down. Bad’s good. Worse
Is better. Woke's worrisome/and straw’s spun orange into fools gold …

Leaning in, listening to bosh-laden blizzards of fabrications—
Falsifications— bleached bone white lies—but not eating the
Dogma does cause trauma. Trauma of two car crashes;
Three boxing matches; And four NFL and hockey games …

Blitzkrieg! Warp speed war on the working-class—
Moving fast! Breaking things! Things shoe leather, steel spines,
Blood and grit won working people long, long ago.
Things we long to make more muscular, more robust. And for all …

© 2025. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

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 and PayPal.

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


More Stories


  • An Honest Living
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Steven Salaita's An Honest Living: A Memoir of Peculiar Itineraries
    08 Mar 2024
    Steven Salaita talks to us about his new book, "An Honest Living: A Memoir of Peculiar Itineraries", a story about his life following his termination from a tenured professorship due to his…
  • Poor Peoples Army
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Poor People's Army Mobilizes in 2024
    08 Mar 2024
    Cheri Honkala and Shamako Noble from the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign join to discuss the work of their organization and their planned actions at the Democratic and…
  • What We Stood For
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    What We Stood For: The Story of a Revolutionary Black Woman
    08 Mar 2024
    Deborah Jones and Thandisizwe Chimurenga joins us to talk about the book, "What We Stood For: The Story of a Revolutionary Black Woman", the violence Jones experienced in the liberation movement, and…
  • Biden holding a Ukrainian refugee child
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Racist Asylum and Immigration Policy in the U.S. and Canada
    06 Mar 2024
    Fears of an “invasion” at the border are nothing more than white supremacy being openly expressed. It could not be otherwise in a settler colony created by migration from Europe. To millions of…
  • Pierre Hudicourt
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: Haiti’s Appeal to Americans, Pierre Hudicourt, 1922
    06 Mar 2024
    In 1922 legal scholar Pierre Hudicourt argued that the US military occupation of Haiti was illegal. As Haiti enters the 20th year of another illegal occupation, Hudicourt’s analysis resonates…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us