Of Dark Feelings

BROODING

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

There is a bird
Crying outside my window
In the woods
An echo of loneliness within me…
Every few seconds
A lonesome wail
Haunting, detached, a hall of sorrows
An abandoned lover
A brother alone
A wanderer in the woods of life
Between the trees and the dark leaves
Beneath the reach of the sun…
I hear your call
Partner
I feel you, I feel you well.

The glass is dark
The mirror within is a bird outside
I never see but always hear
For I carry the sorrow within.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
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SENSE OF TASTE

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

There is no easy way
To walk through every valley
Without tasting any fruit
Without tasting any fruit

Propensity plays a gentle lute
Curiousity owns a magic flute
Temptation gnaws at your root
Intuition is loud, intuition is mute.

Who can know without taking a bite?
Who can grow without experiencing the night?
Some nights will yield the day
Some nights will kill the day

When does a want become a need?
When does a hunger morph into greed?
Is a sin a fruit or a seed?
A thought is sometimes worse than a deed.

There is a green hill far away
Your feet are confused: to go or to stay?
Who can walk through the valley of the root
Without tasting any fruit?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

UNSMILED SMILES

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So the sun is yellow today
See that?
There – above the dark grey clouds
Beyond the mists and fog –
See that?
There – outside the boundary of your brooding thoughts
Beyond the clutches of your sorrow
If you look through your depression –
So plain to see,
The corner of your unsmiled smiles
Tugging at your lips
Lifting your lids – look, look
Above the tree tops in the jungle of your sadness –
Don’t you see?
The sun is golden yellow today.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE FEAR OF YOURSELF

~ Che

I know a girl
She loves to pray
And everytime we kiss
She runs away in shame

Because I don’t fit into her world
And she can’t look her leader
In the eye
When I’m on her mind.

Is your river flowing?
Should I… check again?
So she runs far away
And in the distance we can

Pretend
That she’s stronger than Shame –
She’s ashamed of herself
For not being herself.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

UPON MY WORD

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

The pen is mightier
Than the sword
If only writers knew
The meaning of this word
Going forward, going backward

Those who seek vengeance
Through the use of the pen
Are writing their own sentence
Regret won’t heal the pain

Regret won’t heal the pain
My friend
So tread lightly in the rain
And softly sing

And softly sing
For when the verse is over
You’ll be the one to compose again
A new chorus to start over

And when you live again
Your life will be a book of stories
And everything you wrote
Will line your path with pain
Or shame or gladness or glory.

Some kill themselves by the sword
But most commit suicide by their own word.
Some live by the sword,
SOme die by the word
And vice versa.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

LIGHT AND DARK

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Don’t ask me why I did it
You won’t get any answer
That makes any sense to you
I did it ‘cause I’m a dancer

Don’t ask me what kind of music
Plays underneath my propensities
The same hand fingering fine violins
Also thumbs the base of depravities

Don’t ask me how I can bear it
To be sometimes day, sometimes night
It is the fault of the sun
Who keeps me spinning around

Now I love being spun around
Locked in a battle that can’t be won
And can’t be lost, I love the light
Sometimes, and sometimes I fear it.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

GRASS

~ Che

Some smoke grass
Some cut grass, they love to mow the lawn
Some play in grass
Some spread a blanket on the grass
And sleep in the sun –
What a waste of grass.

When I see grass, I touch it
I stroke it, tickle it, sniff it, blow it gently
Then I grab it, clutch it with my full fist
And pull it hard until she cries

Then slowly I part it
And slide my snakes into
The deep dark pool of thirst
Lurking beneath your moist grass
Like a longing craving for primeval release
Grass makes me high, so high
So fucking high…

When I see the grass
I shall pass over you
And plant my seed.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

GAME OF MOANS

~ Che

I like to hear you…
Don’t keep it in – let it out

If it’s too strong for a whisper
Baby, shout.

Breathe in my Need
Breathe out your every doubt

The sun sets, the Moan rises
Douses my drought.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

TAKE HER ACHING

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

I met a girl in the dark
I’m hurt, she said, hurt me
You’re singing in riddles, I said

She shook her head intensely
Her eyes were full of things she could not say
I’m in pain, she moaned, give me more

Crooked words lead straight to truth
Those who love each other hurt each other
And die wanting each other, immortally.

– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.

HOTEL VIBES

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

In the night
Through the walls grown ears
I heard her vulgarly vigorously
Verbing the Noun
In tense sounds from the gutter.

In the morning
When masks grew faces
We passed each other in breakfast hallway
Polite good mornings, prim and properly
Breading smooth butter.

– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.