Click here to listen to Blackman Preach read this poem.

I saw coffins as I lie on

the backbone of a flat-bed pick-up

scared to hell for denying Christ

in the darkness of my night

while the trumpet sounds of sirens

where loud—everybody was aware of

the road-rage cops on Winston’s tail.

I saw coffins as I lie on

the backbone of a flat-bed pick-up

speed BUMP after speed BUMP

I lied there on the

spine of  a Nisan pick-up

being stretched like elastic

while my teenage arms

revealed a map of pain

I Had No Idea

they would shoot the innocent

suspended in mid-air.

I saw coffins as I lie on

the backbone of a flat-bed pick-up

confused for the chauffer was driving

without a license, registration, or insurance

but packed heavy artillery for Iraq’s war

but I was on the backbone of this pick-up

lying like screwdriver, FLAT, while the Nisan captain

was

in flight.

I saw coffins as lie on

the backbone of a flat-bed pick-up,

while the goons that could’ve left Ruby’s son

a corpse

the youngest child

wearing a stiff suit—

to die for

on the backbone of this Nisan

coasting me away from safety

as the crying rain baptized

and saved me

from that final parade of life

I saw coffins

I saw coffins

I saw coffins of police brutality

but I was one innocent

but I was one innocent

before they picked me up &

let

me

go.

The preceeding words are lyrics from the CD State of the Ghetto Address

Click here to listen to Blackman Preach read this poem.

Note: The weekend of November 17-18, 2007 at the Upper State (New York) Independent Awards, Blackman Preach took home the plaque for the Best Poet. Blackman Preach believes it is very important to thank those who took time out and voted for him. If you think the lyric and music production on Bumpy Tymes was serious, just wait until you see what he's cooking for the third album... Word Up!

BlackCommentator.com Spoken Word Columnist, Poet Blackman Preach (Cedric T. Bolton), is a poet (spoken word artist) and producer, born in Pascagoula, Mississippi and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. Cedric received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Washington University and currently resides, with his wife, in Syracuse, New York.  He is the Founder of Poetic Black Fusion, a writers' workshop that provides access and opportunities to poets of African Ancestry living in Central New York.  He is also the co-founder of Voices Merging, a student-run poetry organization (spoken word) at the University of Minnesota that provides a social outlet for undergraduate students to develop as writers, network and express themselves on stage. He has been writing poetry for 14 years and is published in the Ethnic Student Center's Newsletter at Western Washington University, The Spokesman Recorder, and St. Cloud Times. Click here to contact Blackman Preach.