I saw Nina Turner
with a roller dipped in ocean blue
Spreading life-like water in a painted pool
She smoothed the surface out,
and made a little wave or two
A few convincing ripples
and reflections ripe for hazing you
and every other vacant fool
who saw her build a cage for you
Who STILL returned to “Ahh” & “Ooh”
and walked right past the toxic plume
to witness Nina’s masterpiece,
Her grand charade,
Her painted pool.
The hints of light that trick your eyes.
The trap inside the lapis jewel.
The half-imagined voice
that tries to lavish you with platitudes
and lure you in the baited waters,
hook and sinker,
absolute.
I know you’ve thought about just diving in it,
haven’t you?
Now that Nina’s got you
feeling like you’re splatter-proof
Progressivism ain’t a pipeline to the blue side,
Baby, it’s a waiting room,
and it leads you to a pool
with zero wading room.
And every lemming
diving in that painted pool today
will not be swayed,
and can’t be saved.
I know, I tried to save a few.
But,
I ultimately watched them eat the pavement.
Those who get less leisure time
than peasants in the Middle Ages
Those for whom a dozen fucking eggs
are worth an hour of their wages
Heaven’s not a place on earth,
and hell is what you make it
and, look at us,
we made it.
America.
Degraded.
Diving in a painted, fake oasis
on the basis of a break in their enslavement
Lined up at the diving board,
excited and impatient
Pointing fingers halfway round the world to cry ‘Invasion!’
Turning backs on human rights at home,
cause the location
doesn’t fit with our narration
You’ll never spot the sanctions
if you still deny the occupations
The End came and went,
I guess you missed the high note
Like we’re gonna miss the last white rhino
The Harbinger of End Times
was floating in the sky,
But nobody saw the message
past the clouds above Ohio
Where Blackrock is demonstrating
“Sell High, Buy Low”
A toxic Mass-Eviction in the Heartland
Suddenly your cityspan’s a 15-minute Biodome
Cops on every corner,
every blink of yours, reported,
every word that’s out of order
is summarily recorded
When information’s valuable,
your privacy’s as malleable
as safety in a school,
or your right to an abortion.
But we know the face of every thief
who came to take our portions,
auctioned off our pensions,
built a hundred bloody warships
And I bet you didn’t know
you were a donor for it
Bet you didn’t know
we still do no-knock warrants
Who could have guessed
that if unnecessary force
is left to officer discretion,
the result is something morbid.
And inhuman
And abhorrent
All of which is in your feed,
and whirling in the torrent
All of which is coursing through the current
All our fate, like Julian’s,
is hinging on American Assurance
Which history has proved to be as honest
as me telling you it’s raining
while I’m drenching you with urine
Then telling you the urine’s really
liquid fucking mustard gas
Then ditch it in the pastureland
like “best of luck”,
and light the match
Then telling you to disregard
that pestilence that billows past
And all from in the comforts of my safety hatch
Down in the bunker,
there’s a massive empty pool
that Nina Turner, patiently,
is painting ocean blue.
Its depth is deathly shallow,
but deception swears it true,
and she draws the drooling willing
Two by Two.
The duo of Artist Named You and Sol Galeano present their debut together, a conceptual and adventurous modern R&B album. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 26, 2022
Three renditions of “Snowflakes in July” explore all aspects of the song’s stunning beauty, including a mind-blowing 17-minute live version. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 15, 2020