A canoe is floating on a Lagos lagoon
A young lad in a face cap
Holds in his fist a fishing net
He looks briefly over at me
Looks away again
We met and parted in that look
The bus drove off
A brief moment of contact
I could almost swear
We understood each other completely
Without words
Though we think us dead,
We live.
Though we think we different
We more similar than we think.
– che chidi chukwumerije.
A foolish student
Will one day become a wise teacher
An unyielding sinner
Will one day become a moving preacher
The gap that yawns in you today
Will be filled by the pain of growth
Perfection and Imperfection may look like opposites
But when they arise in you, embrace them both
Because you don’t know which is which
Who is really poor and who is really rich.
– che chidi chukwumerije.
Twice I touched her heart
So she cried
Once she cried
And then she cried no more.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
I’m feeling down today
The perfect mood
For poetry
He’s played the music
So long
He’s lost in the music now
That musician on stage
Is an echo of the poetry
Eating me inside.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
In seeking Contact with people
Seek that within them
Which is the core of their
Human essence.
There is a moment
Like an electric shock,
When humanity meets humanity
Your cores touch
And so do always your chores –
A kickstart into the Quick
Hearts run like rivers
Seeking the sea. Let it be.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
You have to be a little weird
To be normal
A little fat to be healthy
A little perverted to love fully
A little poor to be rich
And a little me
To be you.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Because I love you
I love your scars
Trophies of all your wars
Because I love you
I love your ugliness
In and out of your dress
They make you special
And beautiful in my eyes.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
They shrink away instinctively
Disgustedly
From the poor
As though poverty were a disease
But even faster they
Avert their thought-sprinkled eyes
Nobody wants to see Shame
The shame mirrored within
Who is ashamed of whom?
Of what?
The rich is ashamed for being rich
The poor is ashamed for being poor
They both are ashamed of being
In the company of each other
One hopes the tides will turn
One fears the tides will turn.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Sometimes too
It is calm, the sand
A creamy caressing
My regular progressing, breathing
Like quiet sleep at night.
Peace is like that hand
That cool palm upon my racing heart
Cooling cooling me down, cooling
Me down
A very quiet moment
Sometimes I understand
The tracks that tears once marked down
The shifting desert sands – the sands
Shift and shift, but the tracks remain
Visible from my aeroplane
Pain and more pain over and over again
Makes you quieter, richer in the end.
It’s only peace that lasts that long –
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Brave fool
You spoke the truth
Now it’s fallen off your shoulder
Breathe easy
When you look into the distance
Your eyes aren’t distracted by your thoughts
You see the observant trees
The bird minding its business
For your conscience is clear
Heavy is the hand that holds the knife
That strikes you down
Heavy is not thine heart. It is light.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 