HARD TO EXPLAIN

There are too many things
In my heart
For which I don’t have words -

Some are chains, some are wings,
Some please, some hurt,
Some are shields, some are swords.

All are a part of the challenge in me,
Hurting me, holding me, healing me.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

COME INTO THE LIGHT

Come into the light
Here where Home is bright
Let us exchange insight
With the same intensity
With which we sometimes fight
Let Honesty be our Propensity
At the very Height
Of our Intimacy
It will feel right, it will feel so right
Without a shred of complacency.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE OPPOSITE

When they pull the ground out
From under your feet,
Grow wings and learn to fly.

When they hurt you,
They make you stronger,
Growing younger and younger
Everyday until you die.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

PRIZE

People who try to bring you down
Will see you rise -
Their thorns will turn into your crown,
That’s your prize.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

HOMEWORK

We have to become beautiful
Inside and outside
And stop roaming the earth full
Of shame and pride
Looking for a Paradise
That is ours and ours alone to make -
Until we arise
At home, our success abroad is fake.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

I WANT TO GROW

I want to grow
I want to know
What’s outside the window
Of my sorrow

I want to go
Where pain cannot follow
Too deep to flow
Too far for tomorrow

The incredible today Show
Thousandfold ecstasy and woe
Changes me into what I need to know
Ahead of tomorrow.

Many more miles to go
The first step is to sow
Hope, sow Joy, sow kindness despite sorrow
Growth is a stream, gently row.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

CONVERSELY

One person’s content
Is another person’s form,
One person’s excellent
Is another person’s norm,
One person’s present
Is another person’s past,
The message you first sent
Got to the Person you love last.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner River

OVERCOMING

Not everyone who tries to kill you will succeed;

Your heart might bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed

But in the end you will find out you have simply been freed.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

THE MATTER

Do you see me,
I don’t see me.

Do you see you,
I don’t see you.

Do you see us,
I don’t see us.

Do you see them,
I don’t see them.

But do you see it,
I see it. It is all I see.

The objective, the goal
The constructive’s soul.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river

CHANGING CLOTHES

People are like clothes
Sometimes we change them

Personalities are like clothes
Sometimes we change them

Consciousnesses are like clothes
Sometimes we change them

Places are like clothes
Sometimes we change them

Inwardly and outwardly
For similar reasons

And in between changing them
We are naked.

Che Chidi Chukwumerije
Poems from the inner river