Poems

PASSING LOOK

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

A blind man walked into the busy tram
His cane tapped audibly on the wall
Of many a closed mind –

There was an unsteady way he shuffled about
Stumbled, and then clutched the railing
Without letting go of his staff, still swaying

In his other hand three polyethylene bags
Full of his grocery – I tried but
Could not read the look on his calm face.

I hate it when the conversations die,
He must be thinking, I’m thinking
As the whole tram stared at him

But he could not stare back.
Two stops later, he gingerly tapped his way
Out of the tram, his face calm, illegible.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

FALLEN THROUGH THE CRACKS

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

Originally I used to cover my face
I was new to the street
A freshly fallen angel –

Would old friends pass this way
And recognise me? Old colleagues?
Old neighbours with whom I shared
A beer and a philosophical hour
Reflecting on the vicissitudes of life
The changing destinies of human lives
Society, politics, the role of science in
Religion, male jokes about women
And feeling entitled to be fortunate.

Will they recognise me now, when
They pass this way and hurry past the
Wretched beggar on the street corner
Maybe throw him a coin but avoid his intrusive eyes?
Opposites don’t match, is their marching song
Did they recognise me in me?

But I don’t avoid their eyes anymore
The eyes of my yesterday
Not anymore
Not anymore.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SING OF GREEN

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Sing of green
For soon it’ll be gone to dust
A memory of autumn’s ancestor
Saying I used to know a lass
And her name was Summer

Yet look underneath her smile
Yes I mean her brightest smile
Where a shadow sweet as secret sorrow
Suckled on her honey lips
And read my thoughts of you

Then sing with me, sing of green
From the caverns of throat
Dry hoarse tears, from depths of wrong
And right, let the hordes of your
Passion shout with song!

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

FIVE THOUSAND KILOMETERS AWAY

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

Your love was a noon dance
Abruptly torn out of the startled wind
And then your heart beat
Sorrows are stepping in rhyme with the breathless wind

They say it was an African evening
Moonrays on my yesterday, hush little girl
I can hear your sobs five thousand kilometres away
For night unites what day divides
Dreams reveal what the heart is hiding
I know you miss me still

Those morning strolls underneath the bougainvillea
Golden teardrops bloomed along the empty street
The hibiscus was our only guardian
The day you became a woman and I a man.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

DIRT

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My hands are clean when
I rub them in the dirt
Washed in the tears of the homeless
Warmed by the laughter of the dignity
Of the downtrodden

Did they lose it all
Just to gain this clarity in their eyes?
Don’t lie to a person
Who has seen through all of society’s lies
They can unmask every government

They can unmask every family
They can unmask every act of friendliness
They know the difference between kindness
And charity. They can unmask you
And they can unmask me.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

RETIREMENT

~ Che ~ 5 Comments

His pride is on sale
And his shame
And on his broad frame
You can see him bearing his fate
With a brave face on display

Seventy years of age
All his fears have come of age
His hopes, dreams, plans, crumbled
But now he’s picked himself up again
And sits at the south train station

Easel, paint-brushes, stool, low table
But he holds his head up high
Give him a smile and a coin
And he’ll paint a portrait of you
That will stand the test of time

He: You speak good german
I: Can I write something about you?
He: Yes, but no names please. I
Have a granddaughter in Darmstadt, who
Doesn’t know what I do to survive.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

LIGHT AND DARK

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Don’t ask me why I did it
You won’t get any answer
That makes any sense to you
I did it ‘cause I’m a dancer

Don’t ask me what kind of music
Plays underneath my propensities
The same hand fingering fine violins
Also thumbs the base of depravities

Don’t ask me how I can bear it
To be sometimes day, sometimes night
It is the fault of the sun
Who keeps me spinning around

Now I love being spun around
Locked in a battle that can’t be won
And can’t be lost, I love the light
Sometimes, and sometimes I fear it.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WATER BORN SPECIES

~ Che

 

Nestle CEO: Water is not a human right, should be privatized.
image

Because I thirst
For Love and Trust
When we meet I know
That your heart will quench
My thirst to quench your thirst
First –

For it is human
And it is right
To quench with Light
The thirst for Light
And we feel it like Water
Rejuvenating, refreshing
Flowing through us and
Keeping us alive –

Life startd in water
Millions of millions of years ago –
How many remember that?
We are all mermaids and mermen,
For we came out of the seas…

Mother Earth is our second mother
The first was the Ocean – Mother Water.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

SUN

~ Che ~ 9 Comments

Today I looked again
Through the rain and saw
The sun, but the sun wept
And it was the rain
Again

So I let the sun wet me
And every love that met me
Will never again forget me
The source of your flowing pain
Your sun, your happiness
And your rain.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

LOOK AGAIN

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And then you will see
That blind people see
The things that are invisible
To you and to me

And then you will hear
What the deaf loudly hear
When silence is all
That you and I hear

And then you will understand
That children understand
To store deep in their memory
Things they don’t yet understand

When a moment full of pain
Opens up your heart again
And you learn to look again
And see again, and hear again.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.