I saw a departed soul
There
On the other side of the river
Yet there is no bridge
Across the river
So how did he get there?
How did he cross to the other
Side of the river
River, river, flowing home
Bathed in the mild glows of
The fields across
The river
Stood a soul
And he said, Brother
Goodbye…
River, river, flowing, going home.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
My eyelids are falling
Like felled trees in the forest
My words are milky like drunken clouds
My breathing is slow and heavy like
A market woman’s feet in the evening
I am sleepy, drowsy, swimming and
I am about to fall awake –
Do you think I’m dreaming right now?
I can’t tell the difference
Do I write poems in my dreams
And forget when I awake?
The dream is the poem, a poem is a dream
I must leave you behind in the dream now, my love
Where my words will live on while
I wake asleep in the morning, in the morning.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
They call you many things
Name-calling is a game of stones
Hydra-headed mad woman chattering away
Away noisily to the sea – come to me, let me be
My own jam-packed contradiction.
Let’s take a stroll from the desert to the sea shore.
Before you get there, you will have to heal
The sick and the infirm, educate
The ignorant, the uninformed, the misinformed, the rudderless, help
The needy, house
The homeless, don’t forget
The aged, the retired, give money to
The poor, awaken hope
In the despairing along the long way to Africa’s destination.
Dictators and cabals raise hell
Entertainers and fanatics raise the roof
And the corrupt raise the cost of life –
We’ve had enough of them all
Let’s raise our standard of living.
There can never be freedom, never
Be peace, nor security, in a system that nurtures
The endemic poverty of this
Many people.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
She told me the tongue
Is the instrument of the heart
Learn to use it well, for song
And touch, to part and to impart
I tell you this, she said
Because you make my tongue restless
Then I knew what she wanted
A drink of tenderness
Blue was that night
And underneath the mango tree
Me warm me hands in her fireside
She sang of honey
Yet, though she’s melting me, watching me
Still my admiration is voiceless, deadpan
Words of flattery would be
A waste of woman.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Sand for breakfast
Tasted no better than shit
I don’t beg for alms anymore
I just snatch it
My mother’s tears
Son I did not bring you up to be a thief
Mom you didn’t raise me to suffer in poverty, did you?
I just want some relief.
Sometimes they look out of their cars
Our eyes meet
I wonder if they ever wonder
If I know the taste of meat.
If I were in their shoes
Would I mean nothing to me
If driving by I saw me chained by poverty
In a system that benefits only me.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
That moment
When the bitterness
Isn’t bitter enough to sour
Your forgiveness smile
And yet sad is the smile.
How friends fall away like unmasked leaves
Unable to bear the weight of trust
In all its lightness
Treachery by politeness.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Brief was our meet
Thick and soft, quick
The covers fell
And when it was over
There were no seeds left over
That fell
No strings
No roots
No fruits
Yet something holds me still there
They way you smiled and sadly whispered
So you’ve forgotten me now.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
I don’t exist
I died when I was a child
My parents killed me
This is a ghost
A flag fluttering in the wind
A nameless mound
A seeking that has grown weary
Of seeking – a being
That has tired of being
But being me
I must be and wait
For my funeral song, composed by me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Life is a burden made light
By the weight of sacrifice
Your life is useless unless used to the full
For something meaningful and useful.
Self is heavy, selflessness is light
The battle is painless for them that fight
The volunteer’s prize is dignity
Freedom is not for free.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
from THE BEAUTIFUL ONES HAVE BEEN BORN
***
Last night something strange
Cracked a door open on the wall
Of my memory, without even knockin’ twice
It came out of nowhere, suddenly.
A song, I was 17, house party
Whose house? I don’t remember any more
There she was, in the dark
Dancing with me, like I was the night wind
She a young tree, swaying, leaves shuddering slowly
Two shadows in a room full of shadows
House of teenagers about to wake up
From youth with only memories faded of yesterday
How long did this song quietly travel
Through time, to waylay me in that lookback moment last night
And take me back to that other night so many years ago?
Every memory I think I’ve forgotten
Is stored in some song somewhere, seeking me again
So don’t ask me why I’m dancing oldskool
Time is a candyman, stuck to your melting heart
Memory memory will knock your boots back
Never ever ever gonna let you go
Where is she now? My young mango.
She is a part of this song now
And last night I saw her, danced with her, again.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerijeem>
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 