Beware of those
Who like the wind does
To the petals of the rose
Like the mind blows
The poetry out of the prose
– Those who sense
The source of your strength
And work only to dent
And take away your self-confidence.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
2013
THE NOISY CHILD
I walk the streets, the broken streets. I encounter people, broken people. I see the materialisation of broken dreams – and suddenly I understand a-deeper, that a child was silenced at dawn. Ssshh! Keepquiet! Shutup! Don’ttalk! Can’t you see that adults are talking! Stopthat! Standthere! Standstill! Obey before you complain! You’re just a child! You’re still a child! DO as you’re told! You will understand only when you’ve grown… – But by the time they grow, poor children, they’ve forgotten whatever it was they once wanted to say or what once they wanted to know… – – – I walk the streets, the broken streets. I encounter adults, broken adults… noisy… empty… silent… silenced. I see the forgotten memory of the broken dreams blowing in the evening wind under a sad sun. And I understand once again, that once upon a crucial early time, a child was told to be still… stillborn.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
DIGNITY
He threw all the standard colourful
Discriminatory bigot remarks and innuendo
At me, then stepped back with a smirk
And waited to see it shame and hurt me
I knew this one had run out of arguments
And was fishing for the killer-blow
So I let it pass by without contact or impact
And leaned back and watched it confuse and hurt him
Some lines of attack grow old and stale
But some people just don’t get it
I speak back when speaking back will hurt you
And I ignore it when ignoring it will hurt you
Once upon a time, a man was humiliated
With fear and the theft of his dignity
But before he died, he whispered to me – You
Are my victory. Let my history be a lesson to you
Never go down without a fight. Never beg
For mercy when the killer points his gun
If they’re fair to you, be fair to them
But if they hurt you unprovoked – always always always
Somewhere
Someday
Somehow
Hurt them back.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
VORBEI FAHREN
Handschrift ihrer Gedanken
Unsichtbare Tinte
Berührungsängste
Worte sind zu schwer
Zu leicht ist ihre Hoffnung
Reden engt ein
Schweigen deckt auf
Unvolles Treffen
Knapp daneben
Vorbei fahren ist die sicherste Begegnung
Du tanzt dem Lied
Und überhörst den Sänger
Jetzt hast du meine Worte gefunden
Nun hast du mich verloren.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
FAINTHEARTEDNESS
There is a time, a moment
To say yes –
You feel it, you know it, you just
Have to say it
Yet you drown it in conversation
Puncture it with rhetoric
Hang a cloud of Why over it
Betray it with a question mark, and then fall silent
There is a time, a moment to
Say yes – only the brave
Will grasp it. The fainthearted
Will run away into a familiar point of view
Every meeting is a thing of beauty
Everything that confuses you and
Throws you off-balance is a gift from life
Knocking on the door of a greater you.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
THE IDEA, NOT THE PERSON
Those who subscribe to an idea
Usually flock around one
Who embodies that idea
The leader is the one whose activity
Awakens or keeps alive in the others
The spirit of the goal, and the belief
That the goal will be attained.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LINKS IN CHAINS
There is someone, higher up
Who births and breathes into the ethers
One new poem everyday
In one of the poems he gave away
He expressed the wish, the urge
That far far far away
On the distant earth another poet
Would also start to do the same
And his wish came true
It may sound strange to you
But sometimes you simply are
Another person’s replica
Just by being yourself.
Life extends its boundaries
By replicating its core.
No matter what you think, no matter
What you know, of one thing be sure
There is always something more.
And when you think you created something
The blueprint was created by another
Whose path you’ll never cross
But his work lives in you, and a thousand
Years from now, another will happen upon
This thought you are thinking now
And he will think it is his original idea
And will bring it to what he thinks is
Fruition, and yet is just another seed.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
ICH GLAUBE DIR
Sie ist eine Art Medium, ehrlich
All die Medikamente der Ärzte
Haben es nicht geschafft, sie taub
Zu machen. So oft sie die Türe zu
Machen, immer geht sie wieder auf
Ohne Warnung…
Ich behalte es aber lieber für mich
Meinte sie, denn niemand glaubt mir –
Sie lachte nervös und schaute weg.
Ich schaute sie lange an, wie sie weg schaute
Und dann umarmte ich sie and sagte
Ich glaube Dir – und sie weinte und wurde ruhig.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
CHIMERA
The moment she stopped being a chimera and became a human woman, memory and experience kicked in – my fascination waned, my hot blood cooled, my wild pursuit slowed down, and I hesitated… – Do I really want a real woman? Where is my chimera? Give me back my chimera. I want a strange thing that haunts my imagination and promises the unknown and knocks me out of my senses and makes me feel strange things. She looked at me and shook her head and said: Be careful what you wish for; learn to be grateful for the simple things you get.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
SOCIAL INSECURITY
A child will fall ill today
His parents will weep
Not because the child is ill
But because there is no safety net
To catch the weak and defenceless
In the land of the Niger and the Benue
Every fall is a fall
Through the cracks
Down to the rock bottom
Your savings alone might save you until
Your savings are gone – then, if you have
No rich family or friends, citizen you’re done
A man will lose his job today
A woman will lose her home tonight
Do not tell them not to weep
For they’re falling and there’s no safety net
To catch the weak and the helpless
In the land of the Niger and the Benue.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 