Poems

REFLECTIONS

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

The reflections of the things we love
Reside in our hearts,
A descendant of the primordial dove
Within everybody darts…

Dart on, dart on, star of heaven –
Eagle, dove or raven.

The reflections of the things we seek
Reside in our souls,
Be they bright or be they bleak,
Fulfilling their roles…

Play on, play on, lead us there –
We must pay our fare!

The reflections of the things we are
Flicker in our eyes;
An angel, a beast or a solitary star
That never ever dies…

Shine on, shine on, little star –
I know who you are.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

INSPIRATIONS

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

The things that inspired me yesterday
Still inspire me today
And will still inspire me tomorrow –
And yet
My poems,
Though they be of one mind,
Will continue to change and to grow
Because Inspiration
Does not change,
But I,
The poet, do.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

START

~ Che

If you decide, and start
To do nothing
Your gods will help you to
To nothing.

If you decide, and start
To do something
Your gods will help you to
Do something.

Onye kwe
Chi ya e kwe!*

Nature will strengthen the fruits
Of the seeds you sow and grow.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

————
* Igbo proverb: “If you say yes, your god will also say yes.”

THE FARAWAY MAN

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

We came suddenly upon the path
Of the Faraway-man

We heard suddenly the flute he hath
Been using to call his clan

Birds, beasts, fish and fairies, all
Followed the Faraway-man

And man alone doth Heaven now call
The lonely faraway man.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

UNDERSTANDING VALUES

~ Che ~ 6 Comments

How foreign is a foreigner
In a land of foreign values
If the values of the foreign
Are native to him?

How rightful are a native’s rights
In a land of prayer and righteousness
If he claims for himself the right
To deny an unbeliever his human rights?

Democracy is a car – if you insist
That they exchange their horse for your car
How can you stop them from roughly driving the car
Like they rode their horse, out into the wild?

Religion is a house – if you insist that they
Abandon nature and make your house their home
How can you stop them from inviting their old nature
Into your eternal rigid walls?

Who knows the answer?
Religion doesn’t know the answer
Politics doesn’t know the answer
Only really human beings know the answer.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SAX TIGHTLES

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

image
Four example
Camel Lion
Your dreamy dark eyes
Bottomless pools of wanting
Crow’s bones
Lord of the thighs
Unhappy keys, open me
A bright queer inner light-flash
Sometimes camel, sometimes lion and me
Waterbottle
Just fooling around
Sex and Sax
Keep it tight, yeah that’s just alright

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SLOW

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Open slowly
Don’t show it all
Too fast –
Pause… a little more… pause… a little more
Draw a little breath
Every change is death
And rebirth –

– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.

SPACE

~ Che ~ 9 Comments

Distance
Brought me closer to you than
Romance
Ever did or ever could

Distance
Is more intimate than nearness
Substance
Needs space to come together

Distance
Is at the heart of our closeness
Long live the resistance
That makes the current of love flow.

– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.

DEMYSTIFICATION

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

I did not want to talk to her.
It was enough, this distance
Was a canvas on which I could
Her Beauty admire, enjoy my desire
In its state of perfection
But, oh!, I spoke to her. She broke
The mirror in which I admired the reflection
Of my perfect her.

Who is this shell
Talking to, touching, lying beside me?
Falling fast like a rock that
Was lifted too high for its own good.
The moon is beautiful
Only from afar.
Before you demystify her, stop
And take one last look at what you’re about to lose.

– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.

I SAW LONELINESS

~ Che ~ 7 Comments

I saw loneliness tonight – she
Was sitting in the corner, in her fifties
Smoking a cigarette and watching
Laughter dancing on the young dancefloor.
For a while, her husband sat next to her
And she smiled and joked with him and
His friends. When they left to get a drink
She sat quietly in her thoughts and
As her eyes roved quietly over the
Dancefloor, our eyes met. And then I saw
Loneliness.

– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.