Vietnam in 1969. (Photograph: Netflix/Rex/Shutterstock)
A war is not a war…
“Truth is the first casualty of war”
—Phillip Snowden
Somewhere there’s bombing—
not where you are…
Somewhere there’s bombing—
maybe Kandahar?
Somewhere skies rain artillery shells nonstop. Night
and day—Day and night… Twisted, tortured rebar
bones of high-rises surrender as pulverized
prisoners…Windows,
doors and floors are crushed with concrete dust and
debris on rubble-strewn streets—Slippery with
blood, brain and guts— Near scorched, Swiss-cheese
cars…
Somewhere there’s shelling—
not where you are…
Somewhere there’s shelling—
maybe Côte d’Ivoire?
Somewhere haunting wailing and moaning punctuates
puzzles under shells of burnt-out buildings. Do empty
shoes and sandals—limbless torsos, decapitated bodies—
offer clues to where it is? Does viscosity of the blood in
form us? What about bloody blankets, the bent blue bike,
Books and papers?
Is it Palestine? Yemen? Ukraine? Is it Tripoli, Kabul or
Baghdad? Addis Ababa or Aleppo? Any tips from the
rhythms and inflections of cries? Do rattling wheels of
Refugee luggage offer a clue?
Somewhere there’s killing—
not where you are
Somewhere there’s killing—
maybe Myanmar?
Call it an operation—non-invasive outpatient procedure—
Call unscheduled surgeries medical mishaps. Leave amputees
and decapitated patients for loved ones to mourn and the mass
Gravediggers to bury…
Address Orwellian medicine men as Dr. Goebbels as they put
patients on low-calorie diets of unknown knowns and known
Unknowns…
Call pre-op scrubbing the airwaves of “Blowin’ In The Wind,”
“Peace Train,” “Imagine” infection control. Then declare:
“The Friendship Train’ ain’t runnin’—You’re either with us,
or you’re with the enemy—and truth will get you 15—instead
of setting you free…”
A war is not a war—
It’s a Special Military Operation. Land Mass Amputation.
It’s Manifest Destiny. It’s a Desert Shield; a Desert Storm
for Enduring Freedom during Q2 through
Q4. And it’s not personal—it’s Business…
Our Saturday marches plant tiny seeds—small
stubborn possibilities. May we learn to cast our
lots with lunch bucket crowds. Remember the
Essential ones? The ones who one day will say:
“Enough! We, too, are ILWU Local 10—We refuse
to lend magic of our hands to merchants of death! We
refuse to load and unload WMD!” And could that day
be the day body-armored workers join in; turning tools with triggers on grifter generals/blood-lusting
bosses?
© 2022. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.
Former forklift driver/warehouse worker/janitor, 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: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-town-criers-big-tooth-fund PayPal: paypal.me/towncrierRNT
The arrest and assault of Chris Smalls is about more than the repression of any effort to subvert the genocidal blockade on Gaza; it exposes Israel’s attempt to sever Black and Palestinian solidarity…
A study in The Lancet estimates that unilateral sanctions have caused as much death as wars, with an estimated half a million deaths per year.
Interview with Arnold August, writer, political commentator, and analyst of the North American continent, on the political situation in Canada and its relationship to the US.
The New York Declaration doesn't merely betray Palestine. It weaponizes the language of statehood to formalize the suppression of a people's right to exist without colonial rule.
Gambians from all walks of life – led by the youth-driven GALA movement mobilized across the country on July 23 in an anti-corruption protest as momentum for change grows.
