They say twisted minds don’t believe
When the way is straight
They draw back suspiciously and
Wait for wile and guile, to smile
The stiff alarm I ignored you
New you were lying, but still old you close
Paperminting fresh notes, suckers
That will get laid but won’t get paid
Flesh throaters singing of tribulation
I love to whip your twisted mind
Tongue lashes, reams of read streams
Streaks you shriek! Dream lines of silence scream.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Those days were magic
I was a boy but already a man
You were a woman but still a girl
We understood each other.
No matter how much they dig into our past
They’ll never really understand it today
You cannot understand a fairytale
With your intellect.
You have to be a child at heart
To understand magical love…
There is a grove
therein a cove
therein a light
therein a dove
therein a mystery.
Memory becomes an elixir.
Our hearts were broken
By the logic of separation
Perfection had to be
Enshrined
For future reference.
The sanctuary of blueprint
Guard it, a secret. A desecrated deity
Cannot be appeased by sacrifice.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Love affairs
Whirlwind
Across the desert of loneliness…
Reassuring me that I live.
I’m grateful for every ripe watermelon,
Every mango, every grapefruit, every tangerine,
Every kiwi, pawpaw, and orange, every peach,
Ụdara, every ube, every mmịmị,
Every plum, every berry, Cherry, each date,
Every passionfruit that ever whet my appetite
Suckled on the fingers of my thirst
Stilled my restlessness.
Yet after the storm
Came always the quiet morning
Free of desire,
Full of my heart.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
When I tasted the spliff
Dragged it down to the level
Of my hungry black lips
It was a temptation it could not resist
Heavenwards it soared
With me, its quivering
Stub, on its mind
Where I met higher thoughts.
Write down
Your poems at the height
Of your madness
For after you return
You will not remember anymore
What thoughts those were
That came to you so naturally
When you were high in love.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
I’ve been biting like a volcano
Poetry has been crying lava
I’ve been biting hard
Stop! Stop bleeding me! Stop breaking me!
I want your nipple
Your lip, your ruthless restless tongue
Your thigh
And above it, your most tender secret
I want to reveal it, stop starving me.
The eruption was a corruption
Of merciful silence.
You should never have woken me up.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
My blood is blue river today
Every thought of you beknights me
Makes me feel like royalty
For thou art my queen…
If I strode across mountains
They would prostrate before my will
Proud to be footstool
To the queen’s lover
Naughty me
What a delicious secret
I feel like King Aka the Thirst
For I secretly drink from the queen’s fountains
My blood is blue river today
When it runs into you
You sigh…
At night I am thine king.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
What is it exactly that happened
In the moment
That we met ourselves again?
A very strange thing
Stranger than strange
A strange change
Came upon you and me
And now we are one.
What is love?
What is this love
That is greater than us?
What does it want with us? What?
I miss you.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
How many women
Can quench my thirst?
How many loves
Can calm my racing heart?
How many homes
Can contain all my feelings?
My flaming heart
Will have its piece
My flaming heart
Will have its peace
O flaming heart
Be still, be still…
The wind is blowing
The river is flowing –
Peace, be still.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
It was autumn when we met
Trees were reddening
Leaves were falling
Hearts were aching to spill the truth
Autumn, autumn
Cooler nights
Autumn, autumn
Mistier heights
It was autumn when we met
Days were shortening
Eyes were focusing more sharply
On every strange new thing –
To discern the whole truth
Before the snow-blanket
Stored any promises
About to be made –
Diamonds and promises are forever.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
White night
Day bright
Moonsnowlight
Warm, moist and tight
She-sigh, she-bite
She might
Howl again tonight.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 