Poetry

DISCERNING

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

I fear
The daily commute
To the valley of the mute
The echoless cry of my silent flute
Digs a hole in my soul
Wringe me mad
I fear

Mockery sticks his head around the door
You no waving yo flag no mo?
Blackhawk down
My dreams, stranded shipwrecks
Scuttle each hurriedly into safety
Hiding they fearfully await the scorching passage
Of the locals’ raging raid –
Some will be caught, shot, mocked
Some will sacrifice themselves
That the finer ones may escape the drape
For tomorrow’s blossoming

Quiet now
Wait for the Sign.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BABY

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

He’s lying in the midst of his toys
And what language do they speak
To one another? They seem to understand
Each other. It’s his smile
That makes me strong.

I’m glad he can’t interpret my frown
When I look out of the window
Into the world, into the times –
Yes I’m glad for him
Let him store happiness in his heart today.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije..

JOKER

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Jokes are the barrier
People let down between themselves
A spoken word can wash away years of building
Leave in its wake a ruptured earth
Worse than as if life never happened.

Watch that joke, it’s no joke
The damage will outlive the laughter
Long long after
The careless word you spoke.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

MOVEMENT

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

They will pull you back
They are afraid of…
Anything that moves!

Long shackled pain and fear
Madden the mind
Time stands still

The tempted, fallen, becomes
The tempter
Learn to recognize them

The source of your pain
The source of your freedom
Movement!

  • Che Chidi Chukwumerije..

LEAVING

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

There was a girl
the fruit of her labour
Was the world
With a cry of pain and a shout of joy
She gave birth to the world
And primitive was the world

Harsh the lips that burned her nipples
Rough the tongue that broke her word
And we’re still here today
The earth is still not enough

Mother has become a stranger
The outcasts have grasped their destiny.

-Che Chidi Chukwumerije..

PICK WITH CARE THE ENEMIES YOU BEAR

~ Che ~ 4 Comments

Pick with care
The enemies you bear
When the unexpected is near
They shall be there
To crown you.

When true friends
Step off the boat
Curious, how the river
Turns your coat
Around you.

Clear your throat
Vomit when no-one is looking
Regurgitated oaths
Pressure-cooking
Sunbrowns you.

If diplomacy
Be their tactless god
How shall he decipher
Your non-committal nod,
Proud you?

But brave soldier
It is the art of war
To live on in pages
Of folklore
Unbound to you.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BUT

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

There are many roads
But only one will lighten your load
The question is
What price are you prepared to pay?

Life gave me a lemon tree
A pinch of love will feed the multitude
The bearer of the word will walk on wind
And disappear unseen, grateful to have simply been
Himself.

What price are you prepared to pay?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

LOVE YOUR FRIENDS TODAY

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

Souls stranded at sea
Search-pilots say they are ghosts
Whisping like clouds on frothing waves

But fishermen swear they are worried human faces
Who approach with one plea:
To send one last message back home

Before they vanish:
It will be well
Until we meet again.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

ONCE SO DEEP, NOW SO SHALLOW

~ Che ~ 2 Comments

Once so deep, now so shallow
Once never walking the path I now follow
My farm lies fallow

Another dimension
Same old sung in a new key
Sharps, naturals, empty flats
We’ve moved house, you, I

I like it that there is no barrier
In between
My view into your eyes, your view into my heart –
It gives me hope
Furnishes me with counterproof more powerful
Than the deliberations of thoughts

Did you renounce anything for this love, this hour, this
Life? – The words grow stronger
The more I write; the light grows brighter
Within the night, beneath the descending Halo.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WRITING IS THE HAPPINESS OF SORROW

~ Che ~ 8 Comments

Writing is the happiness
Of sorrow

The immortal spirit
Of mortality

The voice that needs
No mouth

The painting whose canvas is
The reader’s mind.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

———-

In 2013 I gave myself the luxury of publishing two books of poems on my birthday – today 6th April.
One is titled “WRITING IS THE HAPPINESS OF SORROW“, the idea for which came with the poem above which I wrote some time ago.
The other is “THE BEAUTIFUL ONES HAVE BEEN BORN” which is specific to my continent Africa.
In 2015 I reprinted them.