“What is the meaning of life?

Do we just wait around here to die?”

She asked sighing

Looking into the night

“No.” he smiled

Reaching for her palm

“The meaning is as simple

As holding your hand in mine.”

I wrote for 10 minutes,
A lifetime of carefully chosen words,
But the app crashed and closed and burned,
And my finished poem disappeared.

I look in the mirror and see
Wrinkles impressed upon me
Some from good and some for bad
I've earned each one, I'm not sad

Each wrinkle tells a story
Some glad some gory
So many ups and downs
Caused the smiles and frowns

I gaze the mirror and ask
Is this really me I take to task?
How did time fly by so fast?
My life is set in wrinkles cast

Upon my face, I wear my life
My sons and dearest wife
Some happened in the fire
Some took form because it was dire

I prefer the ones that came from smiles
A raised brow to see for miles
A ripple around my face pointed up
I wouldn’t remove a wrinkle, it's been my cup

bookseller, revving habit/fever

the Wright book, I say.
the poems about the tree,
           elbows on the counter.

i say i say i say, leaning in.

                                                         a drop of rain
                                                         hangs from a pine
                                                         needle   finds my
                                                         finger    my lips.  

unseen is not vacancy.

the question of a pile
of decayed blue feathers-

where does my power
come from?

             a magic trick-

off trail   recording time
many months and nothing,
though today my
       dead bird
       is back, disappearing.

i wanna die. i wanna die.
i wanna die. i wanna die.
i wanna die. i wanna die.
but i can't seem to pull the trigger.

When you get older,
You will face two weaknesses,
First, you will forget easily,
Second, I can't remember

in blue sky
the hawks circle
the bird feeder

the ghost of
a young adolf rules...

the dog that's
been caged
growls
walks in circles
(the wires to the cage
sit in Washington) and

as the cage opens...

smiling
say i
prancing in a circle

one hand waving free
"don't tread on me"

Flaccid is death

like snow drifting to earth

a dearth of visions dimly illuminated,

question sanity, humanity and such

yet snow like dust

swirls and blows away

and life's imprint

soon melts

like footprints

on a snow covered day.  .

Sigh, we live, we die,

so who am I

to ponder fate

with innate lines

when the sand is

dwindling and I'm

running out of time?

Sigh!

Sublime aspiration known suddenly
In falling.  Falling is easy; getting up
Can take effort-One says I will walk
And be content but temptation defies
Reason.   Eros will have its way you=
Sisyphus falls once again for the joy -
That does not last -It is so easy to fall
So hard to get up.  It is human to err...
But still we must grow up where to fly
We must fall; and Love have its  Way
Till the end that still we are children


Sweet bird of youth bird thou never wert...

By: Cedric McClester

Whatever it is
Under the sun
There’s no race
That can’t be run
Tell yourself
That you’re the one
To achieve the impossible
Then get it done

Obstacles
May exist
But giving up
You must resist
Nothing’s insurmountable
If you persist
And I always want you to  
Remember this

It begins
With a dream
That illuminates
Like a light beam
Next comes the plot
Then the scheme
It’s not as difficult
As it may seem

Now get up
From where you’re sitting
It’s right there
For the getting
That it’s you
Is only fitting
With the effort
You’re committing




Cedric McClester, Copyright © 2019.  All rights reserved.

If you could read my mind,
You’d see a thousand papers
Filled with broken poetries
And deadbeat proses
Full of woeful verses
With mournful pieces
Of unfinished stories
That are yet to be written
And failed to be spoken;
If you could read my mind,
You’d hear horrible screams
And earsplitting weeps
From shattered dreams,
Kept in a nasty notepad,
Scribbled on a bed
Of bloodstained words,
Ringing in my head.
If you could read my mind,
You’d see the shadows
That lurk within me;
You’d hear the bellows,
Screeching the words
“I’m tired,”
“I’m a failure,”
“I’m ****** –”
I know it sounds ******,
It’s pathetically foolish
And seems too *******.
If you could read my mind,
You’d feel the tears
I had ever failed to cry;
You’d see the people
That make the weak weaker;
You’d see the monsters
That consume my head;
You’d hear the hollers
That failed to be freed;
You’d see the heart
That still bleeds and bleeds.
If you could read my mind,
You’d see the face
I’ve failed to show back then,
The face I’ve faked back then.
If you could read my mind,
You’d see a character
I had ever failed to become
If you could read my mind,
You’d be able to read
A book you never wished
To touch and read,
But sometimes I still wish
Someone could read my mind.

Past midnight
Cruising the backroads
In yer Monte Carlo
A cigarette on my lips
A tear on my cheek
There comes a fog
Then a rain
Is it true
That I can only see the shadow of you?
Cherry blossom under the street light
The lilacs are not ready to bloom
It is all beautiful
And it is all gone too soon.
I still dream of you
And when I awake
It still feels as though
You'll be lying
Right next to me
But the harsh reality
Sets in
And I brace myself
For the monotony
of another day
of my true love being very far away.

(A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS)

Distance yourself
from this world
before you
into its troubled atmosphere
are hurled

Her eyes
reflect my moon.
In her eyes
it's always full.

Like apple blossoms
Entice bees to sweetly dance
So you call to me

I see the lights through the window
Forming shapes in your ceiling
We lie in bed and you look at me
You don't say what you are thinking
But you smile and get closer.

I hear the traffic through my window
Keeping me awake till late at night
Too late to say what I was thinking
That time I wanted to stay
But left anyway.

Let's fly away
To worlds unknown
Playing strange games
meeting people with funny names
discovering treasures untold

Let's fly away
To see dragons and castles
Meet Kings and Queens
Fight alongside knights
To save the land
To win the pretty maidens hand

Let's fly away
High above the clouds
Let's continue to fly
To never touch down

Both can ****
        The only difference is
                      Cigarettes shatter lungs
         She shatters everything

            I remembered the first moment
my lips pressed the filter
     as I lit it up breathed it all
                savored every smoke
       as if we covered up painful lies
        in a container of painkillers

The same way  
we used to pressed our lips
     sparked something between us
           savored every moment we had
    as if our love was a rose
               in a valley of tulips

I’m not going so say it again
But you know what this is about.
I don’t know why I keep feeling this way.
I wish I could stop

i hope i make you
feel the same way
as when you're exploring
an abandoned building at night.
i want you
to feel nervous and
exhilarated all
at once.

just a few words
on the tip of my tongue
i'd say 'em out loud
but then they'd become
twisted by your perceptions
and misunderstood
i keep to myself
for my own good

I sit
on a canopy
of cool air
straight,  aligned
my soul afloat
heart gently graced
Lotus palms,
fingers touching
as chakras form rainbows
from my base,  
all through my spine
divinity frothing free
In prismatic pulses
my heartwaves
flushed of poisons,
energy cleansed
I am open
as the universe opens
to me
my third eye
in blossom

and even here
you reside in my
tiniest of fibers
even if I wanted to
I couldn't wash you out
you look into me
parting me,  gently
reaching into my
deepest of
strata

I am fresh fruit,
pulled apart
My juice runs
like a godly river
without me even
parting my thighs
Time and time again
I am electrified
touching this earth
the ripe flow of you
folds me into
little earthquakes,  
seismic vibrations
Only felt by me,
shaken to subtle core

and even if I tried to
resist it
you melt into me
like breath
you rock me
from chaos
into still ponds

So
for now
to calm the raging
waters that flow over
and through me
I sit
I breathe
and feel
one with
the heavens
and earth
the inner magic
rushing to me

I have myself,
woman of woman
and you,
a part of
     my landscape
forever

i see the flyer at starbucks

"are you caucasian?
without mental health
and drug problems?"

wow
i don’t know the answer to any of these questions
is a jew a caucasian?
is the occasional *****, ****-slamming drunken rampage
a drug problem?
as for mental health
i’m a deadbeat poet and unpopular pop musician
i’ve got a job fighting death and boredom
and i just changed my facebook password to "eat ****"
my frustrations have driven weaker souls to homicide
but are these PROBLEMS?

the nectar of love
only comes with
the poison of pain,
two
for the exorbitant price of one

standing
at the chasm
of life and death
destroyed by love
grief remains
as life’s sole friend

the memories of love
now
belong to time
and this aging body
to the five elements.

© 2019

so I noticed that we both drink coffee.
just like anyone, we both like ours a certain way.
i like mine sweeter, with just the aftertaste of coffee there.
caramel, sugar, creamer.
i think about when i’ll have my next cup, and the idea of it alone makes me happy.
i don’t care what time of day i have it, i almost always have a cup.
i make time for my coffee.
it might be safe to say i think you like your coffee black.
you might add just the smallest touch to soften its bitter taste, but never too much.
sometimes i think you just pour it and carry on, as though it’s nothing important at all.
as though all it is, is just some quick fix.
like you just want to get it over with.
we drink it in two different ways.
i drink it slowly.
i note every flavor in every sip, i enjoy it.
i note the warmth it brings me.
i like it all hours of the day.
you drink it quickly.
quicker than me, at least.
you don’t care if it burns your tongue, or perhaps you’re used to the pain.
you accept it.
you never let it last, you move on to something else soon after.
i lay in your bed, watching your eyes as they skim the screen in front of you.
your mind is somewhere else.
i savor the moments you look my way, if even for a second, and smile at me.
i wonder if you even notice them.
i feel your laugh vibrate my bones, making the hair on my arms stand on end.
do i make you feel at all?
i reflect on it every time i drink my coffee.
i think about it with each and every sip, taking my time.
something tells me that you don’t do the same.
after all, it's just coffee.
but i put my all into this coffee.
i think you like your coffee black.

You once said
Your love for me
Will never die
That you would love me
For evermore.

And now you tell me
That it is all gone
That nothing is sempiternal
Nothing lives for eternal

always say no
when they come and hurt you

always deny
whenever they Long

always know
It is not
my wish.


It was just a girlie sect murderer
She must fade away. Not you must do anything.
Flowersrain

TO CONQUER LONLINESS, WE MUST FIRST JOIN THE BATTLE...

I lie awake at night, and watch the world sleep.
The stars rise and fall in the sky...
Still, no one joins me; no one hears my cry.
My heart bleeds from wounds of my own making.
Will they ever heal?
OH! When will the lamenting end?
Sad times; lost loves; broken promises; Time wasted.
Freedom is far from this place.
How I long to be at peace.
At peace with myself; at peace with the world.
Fear, Death, Reality,
All that I run from;
Not "fear", the unknown, uncontrollable.
Not Death but dying, Alone.
Not reality but truth.
Truth be told, life is good.
Lonliness is a personal battle,
Never faught, never won.
NEVER...,
The conqurer

I love him
I tell myself
I know that
We will be together forever
I don’t believe that
We could be separated
My thoughts tell me that
He’s the love of my life
Sometimes my heart lies and says
I could live an eternity
Without him
Like my friends say
“We’re perfect for each other”
And you can’t tell me
He’s not the one.

Now read from bottom to top.