Afrocentric poems

JUMP!

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

JUMP!
From my 2016 album „First Nature“.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

NATIVE

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NATIVE
from my album „First Nature“ (2016)

Che Chidi Chukwumerije (CH3)

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
Those that live in foreign lands
But never really left their home
Whose hearts never cup the sands
Upon which their reluctant feet roam
And the prints made where each boot stands
Will be washed away by the evening foam
Of a suspicious tide that never understands
The ripened fruits of an alien-like biome - -
Ye shall go back home with empty hands
To a strange land that is no longer home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

IT TAKES A NEIGHBOURHOOD

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
I like them both
The two sides of Black
The one that is woke
And the one that looks back

I like both of them
The two sides of Black
The one full of flame
And the one that’s laid back

I like the Black that plays
I like the Black that fights
I like the Black that prays
I like the Black that delights

I like the Black that segregates
I like the Black that integrates
I like the Black that separates
I like the Black that tolerates

It’s all Black and it’s all good
It takes a village and a neighbourhood.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

AVERSION

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
It’s always amusing to me
When in the midst of a White Sea
I see one Black face
And when he or she sees me
They seem to panic visibly
And avert their face
Avoiding eye contact completely
And seem to be begging me
Not to look at their face
Immersed in their White company
Proving hard to them their loyalty.
To save their face
After looking at them thoughtfully
For a while, I walk past them gently
With a calm face
Because we don’t altercate publicly
We will do that when next we see
Face to face.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

BEDINGTE FREIZÜGIGKEIT

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
Die einen Weltwanderer,
nach dem sie die Welt durchwandert haben,
meinen, die anderen Wanderer
auf dieser Welt dürfen dasselbe nicht haben:
Bewegungsfreiheit und universeller Zugang,
vor allem nicht bei ihnen und definitiv nicht zu ihnen.
Das Herrenmenschbewusstsein in vollem Gang,
weitergegeben mit der Muttermilch über Generationen.

Oder ist es wirklich einfach nur der Materialismus?
Die mehr haben halten die fern, die weniger haben? -
nach dem sie sie erst geplündert haben.
Und die weniger haben hätten gern, was die anderen haben?
- auch was die noch nicht zurück gaben?
Unterordnet sich Kultur am Ende doch nur dem Materialismus?

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Im Jahrzehnt der deutschen Dichtung

EASY PREY

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
You call yourself, proudly, a man,
Fiercely, loudly, a Black man!
Prey. Easy prey. You are easy prey.

Because you stand alone
Because you mourn on your own
Because you don’t show your brother
Just how much you silently suffer
Because you compete against each other
In envy instead of bonding together
Under the attacks of all those
Who consider you their subhuman foes.
Prey. Easy prey. You are easy prey.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije

Poems from the inner river

TARGETING THE VULNERABLE

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
They that came to remark
the lines of destiny on our palms
are still pulling the discords
of smiles armed with sticky alms
groping the vulnerable.

They are legion. Their allegiance
is with history and vision
It is seasoned with wry reason
when they call aid a mission
targeting the vulnerable.

The enmity is below the thought-line
It is a volition seeded in culture
Only one Dove visits in Love
Every other dove is a vulture
encircling the vulnerable.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije

Poems from the inner river

NO HOME AWAY

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

I walk through the valley of pain on my own

By the time friends come I’m already gone

I am All the colours between black and brown

Call me Africa or call me Diaspora, a birded song

Fly without perching, there’s no home away from home.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

AN DIE HEIMAT

~ Che ~ Leave a comment 
Rote Erde
Schwarze Haut
Grün als Zierde
Weißes Lächeln laut
wie das lauteste Lachen -
Nigeria, Du schöne Braut,
mit Dir werde ich vieles machen.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Im Jahrzehnt der Deutschen Dichtung