STATE OF THE EPSTEIN CLASS’S UNION

by Raymond Nat Turner

Cartoon by Nick Anderson

Disabling flying fingers of 14 fact-checkers; blowing out 30 

bullshit detectors. One hour and 41 minutes of Tourettes with-

out regrets. Specious Olympics of Lying—stuck the landing—

flooding the zone with dreck.

Elephant excrement flooded Fox-boxes of viewers and listeners laid

back on La-Z-Boys, red cap electrodes attached to shaved heads, their

Tariff Sheriff telling them, “We’re the hottest country in the world!”

The roaring economy is roaring like never before. Golden Age of America.

Their Tariff Sheriff told them we the greatest. Biggest. Best-est. Most-est

in history. Told them the price of eggs in Erehwon, along with butter, fruit

and rents are way, way down. And gas is less than two dollars a gallon at

Shangri-La stations. And 401Ks are way, way, way up for lil folks of Oz.

His wild-eyed Cruel Reich Cult members wore holes in trousers and skirts

springing up like jack-in-the-boxes applauding long and loud and often.

Some fractured greasy thumbs and bloody hands clapping so hard, for so

long, over and over again. 

Like rabid, frothing-mouthed lynch mob, they cheered Big Beautiful Bank Job

and dastardly deeds of DOGE: Department of Grifter Enrichment. Sidelining

survivors and protecting Epstein Class pedophiles flying Lolita Express 39,000 feet

above borders and accountability they orgiastically chanted, “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A!”

And their Tariff Sheriff told them he’s ended 8 wars, including the Mexican War;

War with Spain; French and Indian War; War Of 1812. Told them he rebuilt and

rebranded the Wehrmacht “Peace through strength.” And doing it is costing a trillion

dollars—along with blitzkrieg-warp speed redaction of our rights and freedoms…

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; Black Agenda Report's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC.

IS IT ABOUT THE SURVIVORS OR ABOUT THE TAO?

by Raymond Nat Turner

“Laws grind the poor and rich men rule the law”

 — Oliver Goldsmith

“What does the Tao have to do with anything? Are you kidding?”

Epstein-class—pedophile protectors—RICCO racketeers agree 

to pee on survivors. Deploy entire capitalist state apparatus coming 

at us: D. C., Cali, Chicago, Pacific, Caribbean, Canada, Greenland!

Depends on nothing, does not change 

operates everywhere, free from danger

Mother- of the universe—We didn’t have

a name for it—but she called it the Tao.

Keeps to the Mother-  fed by the Mother-

source of all being; life and death are the

same—We didn’t have

a name for it—but she called it the Tao.

Multiple meanings include ‘way,’ ‘path,’ ‘road,’

‘doctrine,’ ‘principle.’ Undifferentiated, yet complete.

soundless, formless, existing before heaven and earth—

We didn’t have a name for it—but she called it the Tao.

Kamikaze pilot crashing into committee hearing—burn

book in hand. Firing triggering rounds at survivors’ scars;

bootlicking, brown-nosing, on behalf of apex predators—

We didn’t have a name for it—but she called it the Tao.

 

Talentless student of Theatre of the Absurd, contesting every word—

stonewalling, gaslighting, sowing wild quotes, burn book notes at 

child scapegoats, like secondhand smoke—

We didn’t have a name for it—but she called it the Tao.

Ball-less Roy Cohn. Consigliere believing JD’s Junkyard Dog,

rather than Juris Doctor. Degree granted by corrupt, defunct

university of sole client?—We didn’t have a name for it— 

but she called it the Tao.

What does it take to get a disbarment date in the Sunshine State?

Empire State disbarred J6-inciter, election worker-harasser, Count

Ghouliani. Golden State disbarred loony theorist, J6-agitator and

former Thom-ass Clarence law clerk, Eastman …  And some say 

MAGA means Make Attorneys Go Away—

We didn’t have a name for it—but she called it the Tao.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; Black Agenda Report's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC.

A WHISTLE AND A HONK FOR OUR CITIES UNDER SIEGE

by Raymond Nat Turner

 

 

 

 

Exploding eyeballs of children in chokeholds. Shivering 

seniors drug out into teen temperatures in their underwear;

bloody faces of body-slammed elders, face prints in snow.

Packs of 250lb. fantasy football bettors/NFL-wannabes pile on.

Invasion of the body snatchers! Deputized traitors / MAGAt 

magicians disappearing loved ones. Boss Tweet’s bounty hunters—

$50,000 bonuses — body-slamming, beating down, choking and

Redacting 1st , 4th,  14th and other amendments—on our dime!

Home doors busted open like piñatas by battering ram-wielding

thugs. Shards of car window glass shower city streets with freezing

chaos and terror. 

Another US city’s under siege. Will the reign of ICE stall in snow?

Burrito shop hungry hardhats flooded for lunch; 

for strategy sessions; for 30 minute escapes into

sports sections folded up in sturdy denim back 

pockets: EMPTY.

Coffee shop where co-workers; old and new

neighbors and welcome visitors gathered to chat

over cappuccino, chai, mocha, Americano; or sat

journaling or answering messages: EMPTY.

Corner church swollen with Sunday harmonies 

with communion; with fellowship: EMPTY.

Neighborhood school’s steady stream of shrieking drop-offs 

and pickups ground to sudden halt.

Clinic’s steady stream of cold and flu sufferers: are missing

in action. Community life is strangled under brownshirt siege.

Recalling “No Kings” rally ‘eons ago.’ Signs reading: NO WAR BUT 

CLASS WAR! Recalling contagious rage against grifting Judas. And

feeling hopeful as hell. Remembering solidarity’s our silver lining

in swastika infused clouds … almost filling battleship gray skies...

 

 

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; Black Agenda Report's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC.

SPINNING HALF-TRUTH STRAW INTO BIG-LIE GOLD

by Raymond Nat Turner

Phil Maddox, a Minneapolis-area resident, told The Intercept he recorded the video [above] on Sunday morning during a quick drive around his neighborhood to keep tabs on federal agents in the area. 

POP-POP-POP … One, two, three kill shots disturbing

ICE-cold Minnesota morning. Morning frozen in the past.

Bloodstained airbag. Driver-side door ajar. A

Third Reich-ish morning ambush on crooked legs of big lies …

Expletives dripping from masked lips—shooter man struts

away after blasting 3 holes into the bullseye. No pulse to check.

No blood to scrub. No tears to fight. He prances away as if it was

routine rifle range target practice. Or, the video game of—Gaza.

Made his bones. No one to answer to but remote-controlled, traitorous,

CRC: Cruel Reich Cult. They got his back. The violence-worshipping

vampiric cult celebrates bloodshed. And for its Fox-box foot soldiers

heirs of Goebbels quickly begin to spin half-truth straw into big lie gold …

No semiautomatic “thoughts and prayers.” No “Political violence is 

unacceptable.” “Indefensible.” or, “has no place in our democracy.”

No “good guy with gun is the only thing that could’ve stopped bad guy

with gun.” Mother-poet-guitarist-legal observer’s character must die too.

Career criminal 34-count felon floods the zone riddling her body with dreck-

dipped bullets. Buckeye big lie “Haitians are eating the dogs” architect empties

his clip center mass. Puppy-killing princess of darkness, fires “domestic terrorist”

shots. “Weaponized vehicle” shots. Blonde Lil Eva Braun blasts “lunatic” rounds …

School Shooting Du Jour; War Of The Week; Nonstop Genocide—

Holy trinity, sacred triad of violence worshipped daily by Warfare State.

And besides, didn’t its high priest—pomade man—prance and pontificate to a roomful of medals “ Maximum lethality—not tepid legality.” “Violent effect—not politically correct?”

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; Black Agenda Report's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC.

STOP THE KILLERS!

by Raymond Nat Turner

The Trump administration has struck at least 32 vessels killing about 115 people in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September —PBS, January 4, 2026

Burlap bags stuffed with tuna and blue marlin.

Catch of a lifetime! Juan’s already counting the

cash in his head. Visualizing pawn shop guitar

for Gabriel, his 10-year-old son, graduating to guitar

from ukulele. Gabriel’s greeted morning rooster-

like—since age 3—with “Let’s practice, Papa!”

Before pushing off to sea Juan bought the computer 

Rosario wished for from a journalism student he met

at the fish market training fishmongers to compute. He

also bought the bicycle Maria longed for and stashed it

at a neighbor’s house. Juan was out to make his young

family’s Christmas the best ever.

BOOM!

Bloody mess below his waist. Juan’s a strong swimmer. But

he can’t feel his legs. He quickly grabs on to fiery flotsam.

Is that Javier hanging on for dear life across from him?

He hears his children’s joyful shrieks. Sees them jumping

Up and down with joy. He kisses Lourdes long and tenderly…

BOOM!

A pomade man has amplified orders of

his demented Don into “Kill them all!”

Laughing, they dub it  a “double-tap 

strike—”

like some cool dance step

signaling mad moves to come… 

Author’s notes:

This poem is a puzzle I put together based on backwards, savage, lethal headlines and loving holiday memories I hold. The puzzle pieces are as follows:

1. The two men who were infamously ordered summarily executed by a pomade man sucking up to his Don.

2. When I was around 10 my dad took me deep sea fishing in Ensenada. And, as beginner’s luck would have it, I caught both a 21lb Yellowtail and a 21lb Bonita.

3. When I was eighteen or nineteen, my dad who'd played trombone in high school, purchased a pawn shop trombone for me.

4. Our JazzPoetry Ensemble UpSurge! purchased a $300 kids' drumkit for a bandmate’s 3-year-old. And from then on the child woke up every morning saying, "Papa, let's practice!" His dad obliged him. Now that 3-year-old is the 23-year-old drummer for John Coltrane's son, Ravi!

5. One Christmas Eve my Mom and Dad hid a brand new bicycle from me at the next door neighbor's house.

6. Lourdes was a beautiful curly-haired Mexican Jack In The Box worker I had a huge crush on.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; Black Agenda Report's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC.