by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Terror Tuesday is what the White House calls the basement meetings at which the First Black President profiles and targets individuals and groups of people for summary assassination anywhere from Somalia to Standing Rock. Before Donald Trump even assumes the Oval Office, it's already the new normal.
Tuesday Takeout
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
The Commander has a menu:
Yemeni youth at an outdoor café
Grandmother, grandsons gardening okra
in Afghanistan
Hospital in Pakistan
Menu for us, too:
BP Seafood in Sauce of Crude
Gasoline Spill Soup
Bomb Train Tatar
Baked Buffoon’s overdone—
Stinks—like food poison on a plate;
PTS: Permission To Shudder,
Clinging to crimson combat boots
Of Golda-plated Iron Lady
Haliburton, Boeing, General Dynamic,
Monsanto, Exxon Chefs cut corners,
substitute cuts, pass off overpriced,
over-spiced, sodium-laden,
Empty calorie dishes as democracy
We have a menu too:
To our left, two doors down
Resistance Buffet—new dishes constantly—
Ain’t cheap—but all you can eat—filling,
stick to your ribs, seconds are cool—
Even thirds, fourths…of:
Lunch Counter Sit-in
Mass Meeting
Arab Spring Rolls
Tunisian Salad
Standing Rock Soup
Wildcat Strike
Ferguson Fries
Bus Boycott
Occupy/ Wisconsin Coffee
Raymond Nat Turner © 2016
All Rights Reserved
Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. You can find more of his work at http://upsurgejazz.com
Despite shared language, culture, and religion, Somalis still struggle to become a cohesive nation.
Wages can't keep up with prices, debt is crushing workers, and racial capitalism keeps us divided over shrinking slices. This isn't just inflation—it's collapse.
Liberal climate movements keep bargaining with capitalism, but the Black Radical Tradition knows survival requires its destruction. Environmentalism must adopt principles of abolition and anti-…
Conservation in Africa has long been a smokescreen for imperial power. Veiled behind the cause of environmentalism and stopping poachers, western governments, intelligence agencies, and billionaire-…
The Horn of Africa was filled with hope in 2018, when Somali President Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed an agreement…
