English

WRITERS AND LOVERS

~ Che ~ 32 Comments

I’ve never dated a writer
I wonder what it’s like
To both be awake, thinking
And writing in the night.
Will we share each other’s thoughts
Or keep our thoughts to ourselves?
Will we rejoice together
Or envy each other’s success?

Who will draw from whom
When both are needy?
Who will be the calming pole
When the writer gets crazy?
Who will write the greater poem
Into the book of life?
Greater than words on paper
And conquer inner strife.

Read my palm, it’s full of lines
Do not read between the lines
Between the lines are just packs of lies
Cleverly waiting to bait a writer’s eyes.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MIRACLES

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

Stories.
Like the one about the sad horse
Who came upon a silver lake
And assuaged her thirst.
Tomorrow she will wake up
To suddenly find that
She has begun to sprout wings…
Yet she will not turn into an eagle
But will remain a horse
Even after her wings have matured
Because sometimes
Horses are permitted to own their own wings
If they will fly up to there
As hoped
And not just fly down to there
As feared…

I believe
In horses with wings…
In fairies that, unobserved, observe us…
In animals than can read the thoughts of humans…
In babies that knew their own names
Even before they were born…
In love that does not die

Stories.
Like the one about
Two children who climbed
An old tree
And, when they came down,
Had already become adults again.
Tomorrow they will
Become children for a second time
The children they were
First meant to be

Stories. Stories. Stories.

I believe in miracles
I believe I can fly
I believe in you, Baby
Love is a miracle of life

Stories.
Like the Oracle
That predicted its own demise
But did not live
To see whether its prediction came true or not…
Stories.
Like the three sisters
Who did not know they were sisters
Until after they had all fallen in love
With the same man…
Stories. Stories.
Like the creation of the world
The adventures of the roving stars
The mysteries in the bowels of the earth –
Like the tired old widow who
Came upon a wishing-well and
After gratefully satiating her thirst
Flipped a coin
And wished the wishing-well well..
Stories.
Like the refugee
Who asked for just a little water and bread
And got it not
Yet could not figure out how to hate…
Stories.
Mysteries.
Oracles.
Miracles.

Everybody
Has a history
But some histories
Are outside everybody

If you were to behold a miracle
Now
Would you recognise it as one?
Probably not.

Miracles
Follow me
From life to life
Place to place
Face to face

There is a Green Hill
Far far away in unsullied fields
Where there be no Death
Once upon a time
Love
There is a miracle called love.
Amen.

Thirty days to Christmas
And here I am
Writing poems
And thinking just of you, my dear.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE STRANGE BIRD

~ Che ~ 3 Comments

I am the one who left the herd
Who defied the labels outcast and nerd
Who made roses out of turd
Who broke his word to keep his word
Who seeks the unknown, victory assured
Who sang the strange song your spirit heard
I am the one, he, the strange bird.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

FIRST BLOOD

~ Che ~ 7 Comments

There I saw a lion
With the eyes of a rose
Calmly it watched me
As I froze

It approached me, circled me
And seemed undecided
It scared me and thrilled me
And I was divided

Should I draw a knife
And the lion oppose
Or should I yield my heart
To the rose?

Then it turned around
And it was a woman
Knowingly she smiled
And looked only human.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

NEIGHBOURS

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

Do you hear that wailing?
Somebody is dead next door
Someone is left behind and weeping
Behind heaven’s closed door
Another earthlife is ended forevermore

Quietly I watch the lights of the siren
As they grow brighter in the distance
Soon they cover up my neighbour’s silent scream
Then all grows quiet for one instance
Death welcomes every circumstance

I know that couple next door
They never failed to say hello
Now one of them I will hear nevermore
But whenever I see the other’s sorrow
I will smile and say, gently, hello.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

IRONY

~ Che ~ 12 Comments

Life can be a study in irony
The more people I know
The fewer friends I have
And when the night loves me
It fills me cruelly with loneliness
For it wakes me up in the dark quiet hours
But makes no effort to satisfy me
And the more I get the things I desire
The more I realise that what I really desire
Is something that already I have.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

COURAGE AWAKENING

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Shades of morning
Mantles of night ascending
Ghosts, like fears of the past,
Lay down softly to sleep at last.

Fear. Will whisper.
A thousand reasons to be a coward.
Until your inner man comes calling
The ground is so close
How come you’re still falling?

Beauty, soft kiss of dawn
Quietens you for a moment of tenderness
Before you shed your final skin
Of fear and pain
And stand up, never to crawl again.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MUSIC AND ME

~ Che

I’ve spent the last couple of days and weeks digging out my old recordings, singles and albums and putting them all online.
At the moment I’m working on my soundcloud page. (seen also above)
When I’m done with that, I’ll work on my reverbnation page.
Next year I’ll start giving concerts again (after 8 years of being away from the stage). I’m really looking forward to that – it’s been a long time. The only difference is that: this time I’m going to do it professionally.
And I’ll make a few music Videos too…
My first Videos can be vieewd on my YouTube page,
All my Albums, redesigned and re-released, can be found on my iTunes page here.

MUSIC AND ME
I’ve tried my hands and my heart at different types of Music over the years – as can be heard on my soundcloud page. Unlike my literature, I’ve always been very shy, almost insecure, about my Music. Creating Music and sharing it awakens a Feeling of Vulnerability.
I think…, maybe now I’ve come to embrace this vulnerability … and it does not scare me anymore. Instead I want to share it. And since my Music is its voice, I’m comfortable with sharing it now – in its many different facets.
I really hope to build a fan base over time of People who also appreciate something of my Music, no matter which type.

Because I am married, have two little children and also have a full-time Job, I have precious little time to devote to my literature and my Music – composing, writing, practising, Blogging, formatting, promoting, and – the most important things for an Artist – spending time, sometime with the world, and sometime with myself. To cap it all, I find I have little time for my favourite Hobby too – READING… books, other Blogs, the thoughts of others.

Hopefully the time will come when I can free myself enough to be able to devote my time and energies fully to this Thing I love so much – Poetry, Writing and MUSIC. Well I am hopeful that in life, there’ll be help along the way…

Che Chidi Chukwumerije

NEEDING BAYS

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

No, my love, my passion
Did not run astray
I was the ocean
Washed up on many a needing bay.

The furrows of your frown
The wrinkles of your smile
Handlebars holding me down
For a short – only a short, fulgurant – while.

Wide wide inviting shore
I came in only once
Sometimes I yearn for more
When I’m far away under foreign suns.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

LAGOS

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

And then I remember Lagos
Red calabash and clay potholes hollow enough
So the colourful depth of abstract density
Can find its feet –

They are iodine feet, will crush
Every wound that opens its mouth
Don’t believe every boast you hear, or
They’ll laugh at you for being a fool

If you must believe, then follow
If you dare, the labyrinthine lagoons
One thing for sure, you will get lost in their veins
But, courage! – They all flow into the sea

Lagos, I miss you like a shark misses blood
Your wild rush, your noisy music, your
Unapologetic pride, your slang, in the heart of which
I fall silent and breathe, as one among friends.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.