What is this feeling,
overwhelming, new, yet somehow
half remembered,
uncomfortable, ferocious,
and where even fear is not unknown?
Is it the same when I look deep inside you?
when I touch your hand?
when I know you want me to be there
(even though you do not speak or look at me)?
when you struggle for the words to tell me
what you want to say?

My heart races, I want to shout, laugh,
cry, hold you, be still with you.
I have known happiness,
but this goes much further.
Happiness belongs to the world;
like the things of the world it can fade.
Joy is of the spirit;
it exists of itself, intense, in the spirit,
yearning and fulfilment in one,
and it will not let me go.

By: Cedric McClester

I just think it’s wrong
And my conviction is very strong
But you might disagree
You have that right ya see
But it’s also a fact
I don’t need to be attacked
Unnecessarily
See - I’m just being me

If I say it’s not the norm
And that I believe it’s wrong
Even if you can't go along
I hope it doesn’t create a storm

Everyone you’ll find
Is not of the same mind
We see things differently
That’s part of being free
To say what’s on your mind
Not to be unkind
But to share a point of view
That might differ from you

If I say it’s not the norm
And that I believe it’s wrong
Even if you can't go along
I hope it doesn’t create a storm

One size don’t fit all
It’s an individual call
And I’m trying to keep it real
By stating how I feel
As you rightly might suspect
It may not be politically correct
But at the end of this lesson
Hopefully I’ve answered the question

I’m not in that amen chorus
Among those who only bore us
I don’t endorse any agenda
That suggests I must surrender
To a set of dogmatic beliefs
That never desist or decease
What I hold inside is strong
Which don’t make me right or wrong

If I say it’s not the norm
And that I believe it’s wrong
Even if you can't go along
I hope it doesn’t create a storm



Cedric McClester, Copyright (c) 2016.  All rights reserved.

She walks in beauty, like the night
     Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
     Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
     Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
     Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
     Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
     How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
     So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
     But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
     A heart whose love is innocent!

Your soul,that choice
how could you steal my voice
The trust I folded from the beat of my heart
in my mind's eye,we'd never part
We gave each other our word
it was rooted deeply,never to possess flight of a bird
Never would I think of the word betray
blinded was I to the secrets of your true way
The promise we made with our soul
it was true,honest,lovely,concreted with my whole

Now I leer and gaze at someone that might be honest and true
but I am overwhelmingly careful,never to be that fool
My heart taking so long to heal
so afraid to allow myself to feel
will I ever give out trust in my once childlike manner
flying now is distrust and doubt,color change this is my banner

“We’re all just some punks, miserable creatures
With our human goal to be: enhancing all of our features
Further into the caves, intentions become deeper
Like killing your local preacher and to blame it on the teacher
Because all kids are precious
I sat alone, just to see
How long it would take to burn down all of our trees
Now we can’t even breathe
Near each other, nobody can see one another
It’s always about color
And *** and race, and what-ever somebody ate
There is no purpose, after the greatest
We all became so very aimless
Is it worth it, that
Maybe the only thing I can ever be
Is Instagram famous.”

Am I invisible
When my arms wave for aid
Am I bothering the people
Shunned and ashamed
My lungs fill with mistakes
Four gallons of heart ache
I fall to my end
Inside me
Another person is clawing my skin, burning my head and kicking my shins
Cursing me to become a better
Me
Yet I am still drowning in my own sorrow
I extend, through forceful waves,
A weak hand waving a white flag
Before I descend into the ocean's grave

Hello Darkness,
We meet again, the last time we spoke, I believe I was young, about the age of ten. I promised you a secret, and I thought it was deeply hidden, but you slid incognito without my permission. Wherefore art thou a stranger of mine keeping--at which hour thou art near mine own heart, at each moment, reaping. Every window has lost their blinds, and replaced with the kitchen table. The wood hangs distressed, and sorrowfully-- they pray in their heads waiting under the rubble.
Darkness, I must admit, the blood seeping through the cracks and the screams became a symphony. An ensemble that will be played before our collective agony. I confront you today, because I am deeply ashamed of my cowardly ways and unconscious thinking. When lives are at stake, you force my love to lose all feeling.
Every strike against my village appears to only strengthen our bond. That is why this must be our last encounter, because you see, you have killed them all. Farewell mine own h'rrid darkness, mine own monstrous conceit. Thou has't birth'd a savage within me.

I took a commemorative drive
Back to a town that glorified the wise
It was 500 miles and three packs of cigarettes
The crisp, burning sound embedded in my head

Endlessly deep trenches
That birthed my inflictions
Created character, said my intentions
To rise above, and destroy pretenses

I went passed those rusty, horrid gates
That allegedly guarded us and kept us safe
Then, I entered the palace, the core of my pain
Where the man stood, stoically and still bound in his chains

He was a deathly entity without any shame
But his smile was deceiving, as if he had changed
“This time” he said, “We won’t die” he tried to explain
But his eyes lied, and his tone was vain

The crisp, burning sound echoed as I left
The man, helpless and distressed
Became nothing more than a substance that
I won’t digest