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
Of Alienation
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
INNER AND OUTER HEALTH
You switch between poor and rich But which is which? Your soul is a glitch. Wealth never made you rich It only made you a bitch Poverty never made you a witch It simply left you in a stitch Being poor and being rich Have both given you an itch Scratch the surface, it is a ditch Being poor and being rich Are two sides off the middle pitch Scratch the sides, run into a hitch Only Health is wealth, that’s the glitch. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
EASY PREY
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
DISTANCE HAPPILY
Family finally - Friendship verily - Distance happily - Thought is vicinity Feeling is duplicity Emotion is complicity Intuition is veracity. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
WHAT WE REALLY SEE
Nobody ever walks down the street, Everybody always walks through their own world. Nobody ever looks at the world, Everybody always looks at an image in their mind. Nobody lives outside Everybody lives inside Inside their own head, inside their own heart Until you see what a person is looking at In the core of their being You’ll never know what they are seeing When they are looking at you. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 