The plane that brought me here has long gone.
The fear of being isolated & rootless here, disseminated over time.
The strength of positive thinking flowered in the whenua.
The power of finally being one’s own self blossomed like sweet red pohutakawa
This is what I gained in 10.

The love of the land and its tangata whenua, swooned me over
The beauteous feeling of living simply soothed my ageing soul
The ease of making friends (a skill I had given up on) was really as ‘easy as’.
Life is there to be taken, not endured.
This is what I learned in 10

September 19th 2018

By: Cedric McClester

How come she didn’t
Speak out then?
The answer’s simple,
It’s because of men
She knew  
She would be denigrated
Second guessed
As well as hated

It doesn’t mean
She wasn’t hurt
Or that she wasn’t
Made to feel like dirt
Was it worth the price
She’d have to pay,
In order to publicly
Have her say?

Men in general
Have no idea
What it’s like to live
In that kind of fear
Of being shamed
Or exposed
To the whole world
So everybody knows

Those who are guilty
Of the act
Are so reluctant
To retract
Their counter narrative
Of the facts
In attempt to cover
Their own backs






Cedric McClester, Copyrights © 2018.  All rights reserved.

Auntie Em is calling….

I was just getting to love my Emerald City
The shiny feel of it, its sweetly diverse demi-monde.
Its shimmering green beauty and tranquil sense of safety.
The heels of my ruby red slippers were well & truly dug in.
But no, the state fair balloon stands before me ******* & ready to go.
A grand exclamation mark in my way if ever there was one.
And Toto for once has gone mute, no chance of a last minute hold up.

"Dorothy, Dorothy, where are you?"

I guess it must have been too fantastical a dream to be true.
A time for goodbyes.
I’m embracing the Lion telling him to always be proud of himself & not to walk unafraid.
The Tin Man’s gentle open heartedness I compliment him on as we both shed tears.
The Scarecrow I kiss and thank for his loyalty & grace under fiery pressure.
With a heavy heart, I climb that first tentative step on the block.  

"We’re sick with worry over you"

I could be angry but the wise words of the mystic ring loudly in my year.
I do need to go back – My Auntie Em is really calling me.
Calling me back to the grey flatlands of home.
Back to the numbness of small town heteronormativity.
Where Twisters rarely every came by to sweep you away and save you.
I could only keep singing ‘Over The Rainbow’ in vain hope.

"Find yourself a place where you won't get into any trouble!

Unlike Dorothy Gale, this Dorothy left Kansas voluntarily
The long yellow brick road finally took me under the rainbow and on to my Emerald City
I no longer pined for home but knew all along that it would call me back one day.
And so here I am, drifting higher & higher away from my adopted home.
Perhaps I need to build a revolving door when I get there to pass through both worlds easily
Or perhaps bring something of the rainbow back to illuminate the grey-lands.
Or perhaps – in reality -  some reconciliation between these worlds is in order.
Perhaps.
It’s time to slip on the ruby red slippers and prepare the way for Kansas.
Yes, this Dorothy has surrendered but
I always had the power to be me, my dear.
I just had to learn it for myself.

August –September 2018