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

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

HEARTPEACE

She wanted to go with peace in her heart
And I decided to give her that peace -
Let there be peace in you when you part;
If there’s a heaven, it is of it an inner piece
And it is the only way to make a new start.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HOW FEELINGS CHANGE

Strange
How feelings change
The heart is a shooting range

The things that die
They don’t tell you why
They just stop to cry.

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

YOU DON’T BELONG

You can only close your eyes for so long,
Your inner voice knows when something is wrong;
However hard you try to feel among,
You won’t be accepted where you don’t belong.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE HURTING SPACE

Allow yourself the space to hurt,
To mourn, to miss what is gone;
If your tears want to wet your shirt,
Let them fall, and flow, and run.

Give yourself enough time to heal,
The heart needs a while to transform;
To intuit, to perceive, to deeply feel
Is for the heart simply the norm.

Walk away slowly from your past,
No need to rush, you’re not coming back.
Take in everything, first to the last,
And then continue down that one-way track.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

SOMETHING’S HAPPENING

New things start
When you’re not looking

Old things end
When you’re not looking

New things start
When you’re not looking

In Creation’s kitchen
There is always something cooking.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

MOVING THROUGH WORLDS

Moving through worlds
Like a thought moving through minds -
Changing and being changed
By everything and everyone one finds.

Worlds as different as different can be,
Minds as far apart as distance can be,
Hearts as strange as strangers can be,
And yet in all these places you still can be.

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