Poetry

VARIETY

~ Che

I don’t make Afro-pop
Or naija-hiphop
Everything I do is
Alternative

Oil is not the only source
Of Revenue.
Nigeria, diversify
Tap your other talents

Build planes
Phones triggered by thought
Find a unique solution
To the problem of soil Erosion

Restless creativity
Is the mirror altar of the Higher God
Don’t run from yourself
Be a native of your Inner voice

Celebrate the different bird
Celebrate the alternative curious thought
Celebrate the bold Spirit of adventure
Make the celebration of diversity your art and culture
in perception, in Expression, in creation.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

REMEMBER

~ Che

Sunday
My body has returned from Worship
My spirit not yet

The sounds around me are like a dream
Far away
Where sunrise is sunset

The home around me is
A faint reflection of another Home
I often forget.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

SUCCESSION

~ Che

It‘s a Saturday morning
My spirit wants to fly
My soul wants healing
My mind looks back and forth

My body is self-rejuvenating
I want this moment to last longer
My children want to watch TV
I‘ve told them to give me 20 more minutes

Five minutes later,
My daughter pokes her head
Through the living room door and asks
„Are twenty minutes over yet?“

I look up from the book I’m reading
And see the book of life staring at me
„No,“ I say, „Not yet.“
Five minutes later her brother comes in

And asks me the same question.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

TREE LIFE

~ Che

The trees speak to me
And tell me their Story

Some are planted first
For their growth will be long
And their fruits will come last
To feed the weakening strong
Who have made it to the end

Some flower early
To awaken in the young
The thirst for song, and in
The old the memory of beauty
As a birth gift for the Beyond

Some will be the fruit-bearers
In the middle of time
So that along the journey
Nature will take care of every
Wanderer, every Wonderer, every Seeker

The human life is spread out
Into stages and phases and types of natures
In every one you will find a helper
A teacher and a friend
This is love

Every Tree too has a Helper
Invisible to you and me
But this is love –
God leaves no one to struggle
Without giving him or her – or it – a helper too

For those whose leaves never drop
For those whose leaves drop and grow again
For those who stand straight
For those who bend in the wind
For those who grow unannounced, lonesome and rare
For those who meet me everywhere
I say Thank You.

The trees speak to me
And tell me their Story:
Now that you’ve tasted of the tree
Of the knowledge of good and evil
It is time for you to taste the fruit
Of the tree of life.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

A NEW WORKING

~ Che

Often, on new year’s day
I said: new life
But today I feel it.

Often I had new year’s resolutions
But this year I feel them
Already I live them
For the first time in my life.

It took all of 43 years to get here
And decades of resolutions.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

A BASE

~ Che

Flower needs earth
Or water
Or tree
Flower needs something
To grow on.

Flower without base
Is an idea without implementation.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

Alien Coming Soon

~ Che

I was at the ruins of Eppstein Castle last Sunday, shooting the Music Video for “Alien You‘re My Baby“

Coming soon.

Album: First Nature – Che Chidi Chukwumerije
1.
Strange woman
Something about you
You’re like an alien
And yet you make me feel so human… ahaha…
Alien, You’re My Baby

2.
Sax solo

3.
Your rhythm, My rhythm, your Rhythm
My Rhythm, your Rhythm, My Rhythm
Your Rhythm, My Rhythm, your Rhythm…

4.
Beautiful alien
And when You’re hurting
It hurts me deeply
And it just makes me feel so human… ahaha…
Alien, You’re My Baby

5.
Sax solo

6.
My Rhythm, your Rhythm, My Rhythm
Your Rhythm, My Rhythm, your Rhythm
My Rhythm, your Rhythm, My Rhythm

7.
Sax solo

8.
Alien, You’re My Baby Girl
Alien, You’re My Baby Girl
Alien, You’re My Baby Girl
Alien, You’re My Baby, My Baby…

9.
Repeat

10.
Sax Exit
With adlib
Hedabedabe..
Hedabedachapechapedaba…

11.
Repeat

Che Chidi Chukwumerije

LOVE WITHOUT AMBITION

~ Che

There is still so much to draw from
So much love
It becomes easy if
You don’t pair it with Ambition.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije

THE BEST

~ Che

Don’t save the best for the last
Take the best first
And make the best of the rest.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

WITH STANDING ON THE PUNISHMENT OF SOCIETY

~ Che

The scar whipped
The back proudly
The ground is stepping on me
Yes I will die standing up

If you thirst for freedom then
Feel free
To bury me standing
Upright –
Only slaves prostrate before their executioner!

If the ground stands on me
Well, so will I too.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
From  “Palm Lines”
amazon cover copy palm lines 2015