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
Of Alienation
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
SEEMINGLY A FOOL
You will always seem like a fool If you don’t shout the slogans the others yell. Hidden are the factors that rule The manifestation of events, and only few can tell How the Law of Reciprocal Action As explained by Abd-ru-shin moderates everything - The outcome of every interaction Between us and our Free-Will our destiny must bring. 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
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 