It’s always amusing to me When in the midst of a White Sea I see one Black face And when he or she sees me They seem to panic visibly And avert their face Avoiding eye contact completely And seem to be begging me Not to look at their face Immersed in their White company Proving hard to them their loyalty. To save their face After looking at them thoughtfully For a while, I walk past them gently With a calm face Because we don’t altercate publicly We will do that when next we see Face to face. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
Of Self
NO HOLDING BACK
Do your poem
Like you do your woman
Like you do your man
Strong and Tender
Deep and Intense
Lovingly dismember
In the present tense
No holding back
Do your poem
Like you do them
That love you back.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river
DRIFTED APART
The truth must not only be true But it must also appear to be true - Or it will look like a lie. You must not only be you But you must also act like you Or you will feel like a lie. A small shift A big rift Swift A brief lift A Greek gift Drift. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
EAGLE AT HEART
Sun-burnished
The sea slit
The morning lit up
Furnished my wit
The varnished mirror beneath me crawls
And over-yonder my sun it calls
Back tarnished memory bit by bit.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
DIFFERENT
To be vulnerable is to be honest. To be honest is to be vulnerable. To be different is to be vulnerable to be honest. To be different is to be honest to be vulnerable. It is a strange place to be everytime No matter how many times you go there. Each time it feels different. It requires bravery everytime. Even when you‘re familiar with it Still you never get used to it. Because it is different. Everytime. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
YOU AND YOUR STRENGTH
When I was younger
My strength was stronger
Than I was
And it made me do what it wanted
And made me undaunted.
Now that I am older
I have become bolder
Than my strength
And I make it do what I want
On every other battlefront.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
GET USED TO BLACK
Black is not a fad, and not a trend –
It was here first & it is here to stay ‘til the end.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
BOYS TO MEN
The older I get,
The more I miss my father.
The more knowing I grow,
The more I miss him.
The more I know him.
The more I understand him.
We live life forwards,
But understand life backwards.
When it‘s too late to change anything,
That’s when we understand everything.
The young shall grow.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
(I just feel like remembering today)
FEAR NOT THE IDES OF MARCH
Fear not the Ides of March
Go boldly your path to the end
What’s unclear today, another Plutarch
Will explain one day again
Fear not the Ides of March
Fear is the foe of your nature
Your feet it’ll drag, tongue it’ll patch –
Heed not every Seer or Preacher
Fear not the Ides of March
Though your friends turn into traitors
Or family conspirators, sly and arch,
Join and jubilate with your tribulators
Fear not the Ides of March
Death cannot upturn your victory
Tough as larch and strong as starch
Shall eternally inspire your Story.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije
15.03.2019
WHEN THE PATH FEELS WRONG, YOU SEARCH HARDER
You might sometimes find yourself, for long periods of your earthlife, striving after the wrong things; even worse, striving via the wrong principles and means; unaware of how you got there, sometimes unaware perhaps even of whatever it was you once really wanted, and not knowing how to change back onto the right track.
This is a trick that life plays on every Seeker – to force you to light up the inner Lantern within your consciousness; for the aim of the cocoon is to turn the caterpillar into a butterfly. So too does life make you blind in order to awaken your Insight – and then, nothing can blind you anymore apart from you yourself. Sometimes the wrong path is the right path, as long as you keep on honestly and tirelessly seeking. You will find yourself.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 