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

Sitting Shiva in South Florida for Our souls/slivers of democracy …
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
27 Mar 2024
🖨️ Print Article
memorial candles

Mirrorless. Unshaven. Compressed spine from
Sitting shiva in South Florida for blind eyes.
For three monkey mouths and ears in throes of
Spiritual death

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Shrieks of joy stolen by a desert aircraft carrier of F-16 reign.
Assassin of children. Bulldozer of dreams cadaver dogs tear
from bloody limbs of loved ones lost to a skunk water oasis.

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Settler-colonial condos metastasizing on bleached
Bones of babies—on schoolchildren’s aerosolized
Blood; On tears pooling in pulverized concrete …

Sitting shiva in South Florida for
Lost souls and slivers of aspirational
Democracy: 1st, 4th and other Amendments—
Wrested from tyrants historical seconds ago …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Last Days of Pompeo. Watching White Supreme Courtesans
Play black-robed rip off rituals. Watching southern senators be-
come maid men, circumcising themselves on the senate floor …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching cruel grand dragon governors block rivers with
Orange buoys, saw blades, barbed wire, like they blocked
School house doors 60 years ago

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Sorting inquisitions from pogroms; Sand Creeks from
Wounded Knees—Tulsas from Rosewoods …. Sorting crunching
Glass sounds beneath Kristallnacht boots from January 6 boots …

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching Sunshine State book-banning/Texas Tali-banning of
Abortion. Watching cotton curtain violence of Magnolia State
Weaponization of water

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Watching elders struggle with high fructose corn syrup
$campaign/$election slogans— ‘Build Back Better’ bupkis–
Wehrmacht musings. War House flapping of flat tires on a clown car

Sitting shiva in South Florida
Could someone really be ranting about not feeling ‘safe’
Wearing Dallas Cowboy-sized Star of David sweatshirt
Around the Sunshine State?

© 2024. 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.

Palestine
Texas
abortion
Elections
Racism

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


Related Stories

Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Donald Trump and the Truth About Robert Mueller
25 March 2026
Donald Trump is not lying about Robert Mueller.
Black Alliance For Peace
In Solidarity with the Prairieland Nine
25 March 2026
The Prairieland Nine convictions are an example of lawfare designed to criminalize political dissent and intimidate movements challenging the n
Boycott the world cup
Black Alliance For Peace
100 Days From the World Cup, an International Coalition is Calling on FIFA to Move the Games From the U.S.
11 March 2026
The US has disqualified itself from hosting the World Cup through wars, genocide, and domestic repression.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Trump’s De Jure Racism Provides Convenient Cover for Liberals and Democrats to Mask Their De Facto Racism
11 February 2026
The political theater of condemning Trump's racism serves the function of diverting attention from the more dangerous, policy-based r
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Epstein Files Shows How the Elites Move
04 February 2026
The importance of the Epstein files cannot be underestimated.
Marwa Yousuf K.
Mamdani and The Liberal Repackaging of Power
12 November 2025
Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York City mayor's race was significant, but liberalism succeeds by presenting a veneer of change where it m
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
School Shooting Du Jour. War Of The Week
17 September 2025
6 journalists slaughtered in a tent. SNOOZE. 11 Venezuelans —Blip on a screen — blown to smithereens with their boat. YAWN.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
For a young labor leader leading by example
13 August 2025
“The future of labor is the future of America.”  
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The Bad Hombre Defense?
23 July 2025
What? You mean the client list vanished?      Disappeared? Disappeared from the AG’s desk like dropping egg prices?
Caitlin Johnstone
AOC Is a Genocidal Con Artist
23 July 2025
She’s actively stopping American politics from moving any further left than the nightmare we see before us.

More Stories


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Regarding Nuclear War Between Israel and Iran
    15 Apr 2026
    The political fallout from Trump’s recklessness in West Asia continues around the globe, while some wonder how far the radioactive fallout might travel if the war on Iran were to go nuclear.
  • Anthony Rogers-Wright
    Israel Just Passed a Law Sanctioning the Lynching of Palestinians…So Why is the Congressional Black Caucus So Silent About it?
    15 Apr 2026
    The same caucus that celebrated the Emmett Till Antilynching Act refuses to condemn Israel's new death penalty for Palestinians.
  • Jacqueline Luqman
    Shortcomings and Benefits Of The UN Resolution On Transatlantic Trafficking
    15 Apr 2026
    The UN has finally called the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. But the resolution is not reparatory justice, and the nations that voted no or abstained show themselves to…
  • Sol Elias
    Death By Black Excellence
    15 Apr 2026
    Misogynoir, a term meant to name the specific violence against poor and working-class Black women is now being used as a shield for political elites.
  • Petros Bein
    Internal Colonialism and the Reproduction of Capital
    15 Apr 2026
    The United States operates as an internal colonial system. Black communities are treated like colonized territories, and the white working class is used as a tool to enforce that control.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us