I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem's heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day--
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

A bag of skittles would make you God

Night funeral
     In Harlem:

     Where did they get
     Them two fine cars?

Insurance man, he did not pay--
His insurance lapsed the other day--
Yet they got a satin box
for his head to lay.

     Night funeral
     In Harlem:

     Who was it sent
     That wreath of flowers?

Them flowers came
from that poor boy's friends--
They'll want flowers, too,
When they meet their ends.

     Night funeral
     in Harlem:

     Who preached that
     Black boy to his grave?

Old preacher man
Preached that boy away--
Charged Five Dollars
His girl friend had to pay.

     Night funeral
     In Harlem:

When it was all over
And the lid shut on his head
and the ***** had done played
and the last prayers been said
and six pallbearers
Carried him out for dead
And off down Lenox Avenue
That long black hearse done sped,
     The street light
     At his corner
     Shined just like a tear--
That boy that they was mournin'
Was so dear, so dear
To them folks that brought the flowers,
To that girl who paid the preacher man--
It was all their tears that made
     That poor boy's
     Funeral grand.

     Night funeral
     In Harlem.

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
     I heard a ***** play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
     He did a lazy sway . . .
     He did a lazy sway . . .
To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
     O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
     Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man's soul.
     O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that ***** sing, that old piano moan--
     "Ain't got nobody in all this world,
       Ain't got nobody but ma self.
       I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
       And put ma troubles on the shelf."

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more--
     "I got the Weary Blues
       And I can't be satisfied.
       Got the Weary Blues
       And can't be satisfied--
       I ain't happy no mo'
       And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

If there is something you want to know,
Please ask for it.

Don't go searching
A blank canvas
For strokes that don't exist.

Ask,
And I shall answer
Your gentle calls-

That is a promise,
Not a passing thought.

By: Cedric McClester

I take a flu shot each and every year
And I had a pneumonia vaccine so I didn’t fear
Guess that’s why my *** wasn’t in gear
When the symptoms initially began to appear
I relied on RobiTussin instead
And wound up being a day from dead
When the ambulance was called I was code red
We’re off to Lenox Hill Hospital the driver said

Caught a bad case of pneumonia
Weeks before the Coronavirus hit
Which was something I thought that I couldn’t get
And it really had me feeling like a *******
But I was lucky I have to admit
As I lie there struggling to catch my breath
The hospital had plenty of ventilators left
No need to condole or to be bereft

My family gathered in intensive care
To the person they were acutely aware
That I didn’t have a lot of time to spare
Which gave them all a great big scare
But I told the woman in my life
That I would make it, see she was my wife
So she allowed the doctors to intubate me
That’s why today I’m pneumonia free

For a while it was a crap shoot I  must confess
When my temperature went up I became a hot mess
But the nurses and doctors were among the best
So they induced a coma so I wouldn’t digress
My chances of survival were a mere 50/50
And that kind of diagnosis just isn’t nifty
It was only when they decided to shift me
From the ICU that I began to heal swiftly



















Cedric McClester, Copyright © 2020.  All rights reserved.

Signs them signs every where you look there's signs inside my mind
outside my window taking you places you need to take a hold of don't you see
like renting a car down by the nearby bar when you had far too much to drink
places that you need to grow fond of beide the lavender hue beside the sea

Draw close to me this minute we both can fondly agree come sit next to me
the drawn out smoke from the make believe begun the fence where grass is green
Temptress came clean by the parting fenced forth machine in the land of make believe
The castle so far away has suddenly been drawn forth near having shed a tear

barricades of rainbows cascadig onto putting space in the wallowing chance to....
there can be danger up ahead the frequent fall out from the dead ring the bell from head
chemistry mix mash make believe fallen soldiers eating ice cream let out a scream
can you picture this dig if you will a courtyard oceans of violets of blue

mark the one who is willing to explore from the case onto so much more
pure Lenox tapestry much nice for two in dinner you see;
casuality across the ancient catastrophe

through fingers both willing to achieve,
through the chord of Page & Plant...
is it out of pure coicidence,
shower to lay a hold of the sign

Signs, signs & everywhere is signs...
taste the Nectar as it grows
Hearken onto remote control people all around
pray tell help me in cosmic make believe