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


  • ESSAY: Who Are the Enemies of Affirmative Action? Gerald Horne, 1980
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Who Are the Enemies of Affirmative Action? Gerald Horne, 1980
    19 Jul 2023
    The enemies of affirmative action programs are not just slick conservatives and vulgar racists, but also greasy liberals, argues Gerald Horne. And their efforts to dismantle such programs began as…
  • Haitians Protest UN Occupation and Pending Foreign “Intervention”
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Haitians Protest UN Occupation and Pending Foreign “Intervention”
    19 Jul 2023
    Haitians protest oligarchic rule, UN occupation, and foreign military "intervention."
  • Black Alliance for Peace Once Again Calls on International Community To Reject U.S./U.N./CARICOM Plan for An Armed Intervention of Haiti
    Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
    Black Alliance for Peace Once Again Calls on International Community To Reject U.S./U.N./CARICOM Plan for An Armed Intervention of Haiti
    19 Jul 2023
    All of Haiti's ills stem from interventions, invasions and interference in its affairs. The new call for a US/UN/CARICOM invasion is part of a long running plan to undermine the sovereignty of the…
  • BAR Book Forum: Interview with Ampson Hagan
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Interview with Ampson Hagan
    19 Jul 2023
    This week’s featured scholar is Ampson Hagan. Hagan is Dean's Research Associate Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University. His article is “Coloniality of…
  • Playing ‘SCOTUS Says’ to death?
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Playing ‘SCOTUS Says’ to death?
    19 Jul 2023
    Playing ‘SCOTUS Says’ to death?  
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us