Poems

MOCKERY THEIR WEAPON

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Once they used chains
Once they used Whips
Once they used Dogs
Once they used knives and guns
Now they use mockery

Because they have seen that all those things
Did not provide a final solution
To the verdure of your tenacious Proliferation
For you sprout from within

They will weight the System against you
But it will not hold you down completely
Yet it will mock you
They will twist the law against you
But it will not hold you down completely
Yet it will mock you

Mock you and ridicule you and make you small they will
Because as long as you are small
You cannot build, or run, a big House.
It’s not your body they want to kill
It is your Spirit.
Do not believe the hype,
Racism is still alive and well.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

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SHOW YOUR FACE

~ Che ~ 8 Comments

Most bloggers are reluctant to show their face. The reasons are varied.

But I decided to show mine – not just my inner face, but also the outer one. By doing so, it was as if I had rid myself of a protective cover – only to realise that I don’t need one.

I like to meet the world directly, openly, face to face.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

FREE MARKET

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

So why is it that
Only one person is buying
And only one person is selling…

Only one person is making
And only one person is slaving

Only one person is thinking
And only one person is sleepwalking

If the market is free
Why does Africa chain itself
Down? If you don’t make anything
You’ll never own a thing

A free market is not enough to
Free a continent –
Only a free mind can
And free thinkers
Who have freed themselves from
Unimagination and rigidity and
Small parochial selfishness.

Only such can free their People
From the chains of a free market
Where might is still right
And freedom is not given for free.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

THE RELIGION OF MUSIC

~ Che

For a long time, decades,
I forgot about the power of music
I stopped believing that music can
Change the world.

It is easy to stop believing it
Because many people also do not really believe it
And so everywhere around you, people agree with you
In a gentle cynical sad way

But there is something greater than belief
It is Knowledge. Memory. New experiencing –
Conviction. Re-cognition. It comes upon you when music
Changes your world and brings you back to life
Inside you again –
This is what Music does to everything.

Then you become a believer again
And a disciple and a missionary of
The Religion of Music.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

VULNERABILITY

~ Che

Waking up
Feeling like a wound
And for a second you don’t cover up your vulnerability
Because the world is still asleep
And no-one is watching…

You lie there, your eyes closed
Your wound open
And let your life’s troubles tear at the wound
In your Heart…
And then,
Just when the pain becomes unbearable
You feel the calming weight of responsibility
Descend like balm and bandage upon you
You know your role again
You become strong.

And by the time you open your eyes and arise
The wound has been stitched up again
And you set forth to meet the world
Unperturbed
Resolved.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.