The Remaining Difficulty - Extended Edition

The poems in this book deal with some of the everlasting questions that we all have to face, and they may seem bleak and gloomy to some readers. What are we doing here? What purpose can we find for our lives. Is there any higher meaning that we can understand or is it just the here and now? I won't give you answers, for I have none. Read it thinking about Baudelaire, and forget about Mary Oliver.

To come up with this poetry book, contemporary author Cesar Nascimento has selected poems from a collection spanning over almost two decades of continuous writing. The poems are presented in four sections -- Fate and Endurance, Struggle and Hope, Reason and Doubt,and Facts of Life, -- conveying to the reader a glimpse of the multiple perspectives from which one can try to make sense of life. It is a poetry book filled with skepticism, and with more than a hint of humor.

This extended edition contains 11 new poems.

Excerpts:

PLEASE, LIE TO ME

I'm growing old
My hair grows thin
And the spots on my skin
Reveal me the truth
I'm losing hold
Of my joyless spring
And I reach out
For any kind of proof
Of still being young
As I gather my last
Breath to sing
So when I ask you
Do I look good?
Please, do but reply
You sure look great
For such a small mistake
Will not demean your stand
And so I beg you, please
Please comprehend
That I am that I should be
And - if you'd be my friend -
I beg you, please,
Please, lie to me

THE REMAINING DIFFICULTY

Late at night everything is easy
And life runs smoothly as a boat
Sailing lightly on a calm bay
Problems vanished, your mind ok
You drift afloat the turns of ice
And whiskey, the crackers you bite
But still there is the empty spot
You need to find on the ashtray

CONTENTS:
My Vanity
Nothing New Under The Sun
Fortune-Telling
My Last Forecast
Our Wrecked Species
Born Under A Wicked Star
I Dream Of Rats
Life Cycle
You Might As Well Die
Your Afterlife
The Simple Things In Life
Please, Lie To Me
Lots
A Little Plant
Blossom
Midlife Crisis
If God Were Merciful
Leaving Death Row
A Face And A Name
The Meaning Of Life
Walking Shadow
Contra Galilaeos
The Winter Tale
A Day In The Sun
The Endless Summer
The Tropics
The Remaining Difficulty
You Do Not Get There
Original Sin
Nostalgia
Babel
You Are Not To Blame
The Last Glass Of Champagne
Perfection
One Wish
The Apostate Magnificent: Gaul
The Apostate Magnificent: Persia
An Infant Prince