MARCH TOWARDS APRIL

So many things ending in my life this month, as March ends. And so many things starting. Looking forward to April. Is my heart big enough to contain and bear it all? Yes, my heart is always big enough. And when it isn’t, it simply grows some more, grows again.

Aries, as ever, you end the old and bring the new. For me, to me, in me.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

AFTERMATH

It took me a while to acknowledge and accept the betrayal. And the permanent change. It is what it is. But now that I have, I have. Now, we can successfully pretend, together and apart, that it never happened; and that we were never that close. Now the bond is broken. The intimate bond of trust.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

INTERACTIONS AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS  

Envy and Jealousy and Possessiveness. Distrust and Disloyalty and the breaking of Promises. Not knowing one’s boundaries. Untoward and unjustified claims upon the other. Intrusiveness. Space and vicinity. Balance. Knowing the line between giving and taking, between being there and crossing boundaries, between being close enough and being too close for comfort. Knowing which demands and expectations are legitimate and must be met, and which ones are too intrusive. Respect. Mutual respect. Consideration for the other’s nature. Making the effort to know the other better. Carefulness. Intimacy. Understanding the different layers and forms of intimacy, and knowing which ones to share with which people, which ones apply within which forms of friendship, which ones are exclusive and which ones are inclusive. You can connect with many people deeply, and each connection is different. But there is a certain connection that can only be shared with one, or none, at every point in time. Truthfulness and honesty and trust and bravery. Trust is a form of bravery. Reciprocity in our relationships with one another.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Undulating Plains

THE DOGS OF WAR AGAIN

The fogs of war
Clouding and blinding -
The cogs of war
Tripping up and grinding -
The bogs of war
Weighing down and binding -
The blogs of war
Lying, agitating, not minding -
The dogs of war
Stuck in the past, rewinding.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HEALING

Thinking of tomorrow
Of when you‘ll be gone
Your name is Sorrow
And your work is almost done.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

STOP ACCEPTING LIES

Stop accepting lies
Dressed up as niceness –
Humiliation lies
In falsehood, not kindness.
Empty conversations
Masking your blindness –
A Disappointed Soul
Will answer with silence.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

SOMEONE

You will hurt somebody
And somebody will hurt you
You will heal somebody
And somebody will heal you
You will help somebody
And somebody will help you
You will hinder somebody
And somebody will hinder you.

For every vice
And for every virtue
There’s someone to take it
And someone to give it to you.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

ACCEPTING THAT

Accepting that you are not the one
for the one you love and want the most
is the most hurtful pain to sleep upon
Night after night hugging a ghost.

Accepting rejection without rejecting acceptance
of and by yourself and those who love and value you
is a difficult and uphill task, a complicated dance,
but also a chance for you to liberate and revalue you.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HARD AND EASY

The simplest things can turn hard
All of a sudden and for no reason
Other than you made a small error
Of judgment in the easy season.

The hardest things can become easy
All of a sudden and without effort
Simply because you change your perception
Because mentality is a form of transport.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

ADJUSTING

You overcome the pain
By becoming one with it.
You lighten the rain
By learning to dance in it.
You conquer rejection
By accepting it.
You unburden affection
By confessing it.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river