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
Of Alienation
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
WHAT DO YOI REALLY WANT?
Imagine if the only way God could save you
Was by letting you continue to search and to suffer –
Would you still continue to beg Him to save you?
Or would you ask the devil to make you an offer?
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
NO HOME AWAY
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
BADLY
I‘m hurting so badly It’s driving me mad And making me sad I’ll take the bend gladly. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
CRAVINGS
When they‘re done with you They hate you For showing them their darker side And showing them how much they love it. Never talk to them in the open Only in secret That‘s when they love you That‘s where they crave it. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
WALKING WOUNDS
We are all walking wounds Chimeras and Illusions trigger us And then we fall into a deep hole Lashing out at shadows that don‘t exist And hurting real people who never hurt us And who don’t know why we‘re hurting them Inside them where they walk their own wounds. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
