There is a slitherer
Snaking without fear
For he owns your urges
Like thirst owns the night
Like Guilt owns sight
Like frustrations delight owning
Like we argued about seeking distance
And about seeking closeness
And said I don’t fucking care
Just so we would not say
I love you, you are mine
Don’t sleep with him, don’t sleep with her, Baby.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Carry me
Marry me
Madness pain
Sadness moon
Tidal silence be violent
On me
I have seen it all
Love a lie
Hatred a voiceless bond
Treachery a given
Weakness our one true calling
I have seen enough.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
There is comfort in pain
Like these tears that spill my eyes
Mine heart shallt drink
When I am alone
They all left me, one bye one
But I shall not break
Like the palm tree, bent under
My laugh will be straight again
A lane travels through the woods alone
Asking for no company
Neither loving nor hating those that
Walk on him and leave him behind.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Nur eines habe ich gelernt
Du musst auf den Schlag verzichten
Denn die Kettenreaktion
Der entzieht sich niemand, auch du nicht
Die Erinnerung verfolgt mich
Jahr und Jahrzehnt um Jahr und Jahrzehnt
So früh am Lebensmorgen, kaum siebzehn
Doch verzichtete ich nicht auf den Schlag, den Rückschlag
Die Kettenreaktion, ihr entzieht sich niemand
Sie entfaltet sich in allen Richtungen
Wechselwirkung fragt nicht nach Gerechtigkeit
Alle Betroffenen sind beteiligt – auch Generationen später.
Bevor ich verschwinde, singe, gelinde, ich
Verzichte auf den Tiefschlag
Der Rückschlag wird wie eine lange Hand sein
Die alles umfasst. Lehrer. Richter. Unerbittlich –
Nur eines habe ich gelernt
Der wahre Sieg, der ist subtil; unfassbar.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I have seen
That Evil
Is deep
It has silenced me
For where it nests
Is the noiseless depth
Pay no attention to my words
They are a distraction
If you want to hear my message
Listen to my silence
My words will show you the way into my silence
Where I talk of treachery no words can describe.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
5 minutes of midnight
5000 midnights of missing your moon
may your return be soon
you crawled like a gecko
all over my surface
and you kept on nodding and running
a crowd of summerlovers is heading south
the winter has beached north
airport is breath-short, what’s a goodbye worth?
wherever you go, think of me
like a plane that ever returns
like a bird, like a thought, like seasons and the night.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
The strange bird
Strangely heard
Their fear as a song for which
It had no dance-steps
Their hatred as a tongue for which
It had no dictionary
All it had was its strangeness
And its strangeness was its Dance
And its book of many Meanings.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Faces of strangers
Phases of enmity
A look is fuller than a book
Brevity is the soul of it
Hatred is a virus
It lies low for generations
Then breaks out with the new youth
Like a message stored in the DNA
Unbroken.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
When all is sad and done
Truth lies on you clumsily
Against you it’s all mad up
Love hates you so badly
In hell you’re in heaven
Mine eyes have sin it all
Cut up in the rupture
In the mist of my foes
True friends are had to find
Every day a new stat
Just role with the blow
Role with the blow, stranger
Not even a manger protects from danger
When people know you can see their soul
They mind.
So read your friends with fear
Your foes with care
The ability is rare.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
PS: there are no spelling errors in this poem.
Some people, like stars, only
Appear small because they
Are so very very far away
From us and our Understanding.
The closer we get to them
In essence and in comprehension
The smaller we become
With humility.
The more we understand them
The more we grow
In humility.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 