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

Feet Won't Fail You Now: Vote With Them!
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
14 Sep 2016
🖨️ Print Article

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

Whatchu do on election day might be important, our poet affirms, but it's by no means everything. Changing the world calls for a lot more stuff before, during, after and often enough in spite of elections, candidates and campaigns.

Feet Won’t Fail You Now:

Vote With Them!

by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner

I.

Presto! Abra-cadaver! Regime change!

And the wars played on…There’s a Ta-

Da List: Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria…

It’s more honest, less pretentious

having Haliburton and Boeing on

Ballots and Raytheon, Exxon and

General Dynamics nominating

Northrup-Grummond; Lockheed-Martin,

Monsanto and CCA chairing conventions…

It’s more honest, less pretentious

showing JFK, gaping hole in his

throat, brain oozing out the back

of his head; and Jackie’s blood-

splattered pink dress with all the

Pomp and circumstance…

It’s more honest, less pretentious

calling it corporatocracy, kleptocracy,

autocracy, plutocracy—anything but

Democracy—for the working-class

It’s more honest, less pretentious

To quit pretending it’s broken and

we can fix it. It’s emergency managed

magnificently, works perfectly—for the 1%

It’s more honest, less pretentious

shutting up about holding anyone’s

Combat boots to the fire!

You claim there’s an opening for socialism

In this anti-communist bastion of the world,

and your phones are smart…Is there an app

for socialism? Communism? If not, the real

Question in this forest of question marks is:

How quickly can we cram for the EXAM?

How rapidly can we build on baby steps?

How fast can we cut plastic cuffs from our

Dreams and snatch stars through orange netting?

How swiftly can we recycle shackles into Independent

Organizations? How quickly can we come together?

How fast can we cast illusions off and light lanterns

of theory guiding our steps?

How swiftly can we blend rivulets of revolt into a river of

Revolution?

Must we continue cowering before bloodthirsty Barnum&

Bailey, champagne-caviar spectacles, cycles of fear, before

Bogeymen, Bogey-Ladies and colored tokens granted rights

to do wrong: pulling nuts of The New Amerikkkkan Century

from class struggle’s campfire?

2008-2016

Black dyed-in-the wool corporate war criminal

2016-2024

Woman warmonger, Wall Street operative

2024—2032

“Latino” warlord, creature of the 1%

2032-2040

Asian exponent of the ‘pivot’

2040-2048

First Openly Gay Commander-in-Chief

2048-2056

First Disabled agent of war profiteers—then

Restart cycles, doubling up on identities…

II.

Your feet burn, legs ache, but ever

Notice how energized, invigorated,

Uplifted, militant marches make you?

Breathing’s not shallow—defeated like

aftermath of $campaigns & $elections

You’re revitalized as rubber and road meet

at your feet; street heat voting won’t fail you…

Raymond Nat Turner © 2016 All Rights Reserved

Raymond Nat Turner is an acclaimed poet and performance artist. Find more of his work at http://ursurgejazz.com

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


More Stories


  • "Kamala Auntie’: On the Vulgarity of Bourgeois Identity Politics in 2020
    Julie Kuttappan
    "Kamala Auntie": On the Vulgarity of Bourgeois Identity Politics in 2020
    26 Aug 2020
    Harris’ identity as a woman of color has been propped up to cover for her decades-long loyalty to the ruling class, locking up working-class and poor people and deporting migrants.
  • Open Defecation Zones and the Shaming of Africa 3.0
    Zanga Chimombo
    Open Defecation Zones and the Shaming of Africa 3.0
    26 Aug 2020
     “Voluntourists” in Africa are actually jihadists for the West who defecate all over the continent in every way that defecation is possible.
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of August 24, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of August 24, 2020
    25 Aug 2020
    Creating Ownership, Equity and Income for College Athletes
  •  Getting Out the Word: #PrisonsKill
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Getting Out the Word: #PrisonsKill
    25 Aug 2020
    The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, IWOC, “is committed to the militant organizing of prisoners that takes its leadership and focus from those on the inside,” said Joergen Ostens
  • To Ignore Political Prisoners is Hypocrisy
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    To Ignore Political Prisoners is Hypocrisy
    25 Aug 2020
    “Any movement that seeks to bring radical changes to society that does not incorporate at the top of the list freedom for our freedom fighter that have gone before, is hypocritical,” said J
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us