Poems

MIRROR MIND (A Duet)

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

mirrormind 1

I’m looking at a person in the mirror
He mirrors my thoughts but not my actions
We stare each other quietly in the eye
Then I hide the mirror again in my closet
And walk away

I can no longer look at my reflection.
For it shows my weakness and my fear.
It’s as if the picture that paints my surface
has been discolored by my truth.

There will be no sun without a morning
There will be no lake without a mirror
If I claim to be dead, then I’m still alive
The frozen spark trapped inside is a spirit outside
Looking in

Grasping for what seems like eternity
to the small amount of existence I have left.
Aching for the courage and strength to
break through the barrier of acceptance.
Continuously wishing for hope to surround me.

And so shall it be, I touch myself
My lows, my highs, my spark,
The mirror cracks, the image is gone
Because I have come.

– (Che Chidi Chukwumerije / Deana Burson)
***
This is a duet I did with Deana at My thoughts on the subject are as follows.
If you havent read her work yet, please do. She is a restless writer with a gifted imagination.

HAPPINESS, HONESTY AND IMPERFECTION

~ Che ~ 3 Comments

They said, you’re silent, and when you speak, you don’t speak of the things we know you know, the things you once spoke about. You don’t preach, you don’t teach, you don’t educate, elucidate or inform.

I said I have seen it all and it’s all an illusion. Never follow high-sounding words; they always hide a lie somewhere. All I want is just to be happy.

And I said, keep searching and searching until you find the hypocrite within you; and when you have looked each other in the eye, you will learn to recognize him or her also in the people, the words and the works around you. It’s very easy to be deep and profound. It’s much more difficult to be honestly imperfect.

If you want to be happy, you can’t skip the first step. It is also the last step: honest imperfection. Leave the wise words to the teachers. You, just be happy. That’s the only thing left that I still honestly care about. The rest is just a waste of precious time at best, deception of self and others at worst.

A funny thing happened: this morning I heard a saxophone playing and it gave me more than all the wise moving words in this world ever could or did. It sang the melody of all my sins, all my hopes, all my regrets, all my joys, all the humanity within me; and in the end I knew, it is true: the inner voice is the real you.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCKING ON WHOSE DOOR?

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Opportunity is temptation
Take not every one that comes
It knocks but once, they say
But where does it open into?
Stay on your path.

When in doubt,
Listen inwards.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BEHIND YOUR MIND

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Insight awakens
What hope is there for Sight?
No matter what your eyes see outwardly
Your heart insists on knowing better inwardly
Proof is intellectual
Knowledge perceptual
A Dream will insist
Reality is the dreamy Mist.

Vision takes over
You become a tool of its mission
Lose your power of decision
In matters beyond the mind
There the mind is blind –
Your Vision does for you the Seeing
Makes of you a true human being
The mind sees the light
Bows to the inner power of Insight.

You search for words to speak your mind
Your strange heart is all you’ll find.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

OURS WAS

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

Yes it was
A gone cause
Broken laws
Unbroken again

Spoken in vain
Your lovely name
Ours was
More than just a game

Hitherto thitherto
Lonely walk
Lonely stalk
Whereto?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

KISSING IN THE RAIN

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

Caked by the moon’s blood
It was our virginal touch
I thought of you
As a wolf howling for mystery

As we silently
Touched without a sigh
All I remember is the look
In your observant eyes

Muddied
By the moon’s blood
No rain could
Wash it away.

Dance, ye shivering droplets
Our skin is voyeur
Our dance is romance
Immortalise our first kiss.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BE YOU

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All I can do
Is just sing my songs
Between currents of dawn

I am a tree
The Iroko said to the ground
I cannot be grass too

Nor wind that comes and goes
And sings with birds and scents
And distant tales.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

CONSCIENCE

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

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.

INTIMACY

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How many people live in
Your household?
Just you and your partner and
Perhaps your children too?
Love children of all types.

Or do your friends too
Live with you there?
And have your parents and families too
Openly or secretly moved in and
Joined in your decision making?
And are strangers the ears of
Your intimacy?
And is the world with you in
Your privacy?

And yet you continue to wonder
What went wrong on the
Threshold to Paradise
And where did the intimate home go?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE MIRROR’S BOTTOM

~ Che ~ 5 Comments

The mirror sang from side to side
Somewhere over the rainbow an old guitar
Picked up a young musician,
Awakened in his heart the desire
To be a Bridge.

And he is still wandering
looking for himself –
When the masquerade dances
not earthly drums move its feet
but the worlds underneath.

When your heart moves
Close your ears to the kora you hear
Look for the mirror within
For the mirror swings
from side to side.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije