Some things are just not meant to be How ever hard you try to bring them about With a whimper, with a whisper, with a shout There is a planet Running away from a ray of light Coming from another planet Running in the other direction of night. They will never see each other Even though they sense that somewhere Another lonely planet is also out there. No whimper, no whisper, no shout - Silence is the satire of doubt. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Alienation
SCAR TISSUE
Deleted messages Deliver the message poignantly Like an ugly scar that tenderly hurts Memorising the wound visibly And then they accumulate Like a conversational give and take And talk to each other eloquently Saying more than the words they take back Opening up the distance irreversibly. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
DRAW YOUR SECOND BREATH
When I first came to Germany, I died, slowly and gradually. And - this is the worst part - I died alone, inside my heart. Some might say it is a death Akin to the planted seed That dissolves inside the earth En route to being freed; Freed from the past and the old - The path to growth into the new. But death is empty, dark, cold. And lonely. I never knew. There is a path that leads back to life; Beware - it is more painful than death And it too with loneliness is rife From which will emerge your second breath. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
A HEART FULL OF MEMORIES
We came we went And the time spent Was like a drop of memory In a few people’s story Who themselves are gone too And, if not yet gone, are going too. If you have a heart Now is when to start Keeping record in there Of what you’re doing here On this planet distant and blue - Your memories are for you. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
YOU MUST BE PATIENT
There will be hope But the heart must cope First with a season Of conflict sans reason This moon is long faced And tied to a dead sea Rolling scrolls misplaced By startled history. You must be patient Time is clairaudient It hears your heart beating And your footfalls repeating The dance to victory. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
AVERSION
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
THE STRANGE CHANGE
When the person you knew disappears and is no more than memories and pictures and daily through the door a stranger now in and out walks while in the old voice of before this stranger also with you talks welcome to disorientation shore. People really change, it is no myth - Experience totally today the person you’re now with - No human truly stays a monolith. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
LONELINESS IS FOR THE BRAVE
Cross-I’d thoughts flower in my grave What ifs and what knots tie dye every enclave Two many missed shots four one I don’t crave T their crosses, I their dots take back what you gave By not into a land of plots The house in will cave Leave clumping to the bots Loneliness is for the brave. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
LONGING WITHOUT BELONGING
Half me half you I became because of you Neither me nor you I remain and so do you If I became fully me And you became fully you Would there be any similarity Between me and you? For the urge that binds us Is the urge than divides us We are similar in longing But dissimilar in belonging. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
DON’T HURT
The things that should hurt Don’t hurt, why not? I thought I cared a little - I guess a little is not a lot. In the private part of the public, What a plot dem a plot; In the public part of the private, I’ll continue to get shot. I have seen through it all, Through us all and through our rot. Even as I strive, faith in God is the only thing I’ve truly got. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 