Kedu ihe mere m nyịahụ?
Olee ebe m gara?
Kedu ihe m hụrụ?
A rịrị m ugwu? A bara m ọhịa ? E gwuru m mmiri?
A hụrụ m mmadụ? E gburu m anụ? A zara m mmụọ?
A maghị m…
E chefuola m…
Nanị otu ihe ka m ma ugbu a –
A ma m aha m.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Illustrated by Okam Abraxxzas
Was I not perhaps there with them, beneath the bombs and amidst the bullets and amongst the kids that died too easily, too early, and never rose again? Was I not perhaps there with them amidst the hoping and the despairing and the neighbours that turned too easily, too quickly, too happily, into foes – was I not really there? Aye, was I not perhaps there too, I wonder, was I not? I sometimes seem to see again the metalbirds dropping parcels of eager death and ripping the way open for birth, the painful birth of a new generation unafraid of guns, bombs and nuclear threats, and wary only of the little lies that neighbours and friends are ever wont to tell.
——————–
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
——————–
– che chidi chukwumerije.
Broken bristles of bile
And a sundown smile
Was all she needed to discover
My words are quicksand
Too late. Too late. Too late. Too late.
Rough teeth, gated heart
Addicted to the back bite
All these people talking about heaven
Lying to themselves
And taking comfort in your confused belief.
But love will save me
Because I’m not a believer
That inner river bleeds me drunk
The city’s my village
What’s the big difference? Propaganda.
– che chidi chukwumerije.
YESTERDAY, IT WAS as beautiful as the early morning sunlight dancing upon a rose. My heart was not my heart, but myself; and my face was not my face, but the shimmering reflection of my heart.
As I was striding once, I saw a figure hovering in the Air. But she had no wings, only the longest, most gleaming braids I ever saw, but gleaming not as bright as her eyes, eyes a-smiling straight into mine.
“Come, my friend,” called she to me in voice of purest gold, “Follow me awhile and I will show you distant places of light and harmony, yes indeed I will!”
I nodded and right there and then her words lifted me up into the magic-coloured sky where, I by her side, we flew over two crystal mountains and one silver lake and then hovered a while above a garden where children wiser than the wisest men were building beautiful castles not in the air or sand, but inside their own hearts.
And then we flew off once again and this time when we paused, a circle of beautiful winged horses with talking eyes came flying up to meet us. We mounted two and journeyed on… but where we went from there I know not anymore, for I have lost my memories of then…
Because now I wonder, like one blind, in the dark and earthly worlds of modern men. And ever, when the sun is a-dawning, or a-shinning but not burning, though it be noon, or a-setting down, I ever and again go on long, gentle strolls, as though I were trying to recapture that glorious journey which I barely remember…
And today as I wandered through dingy markets I saw a face… a woman selling decaying fish, eyes materialistic and cunning, impure seduction. Of course she was not that beautiful Maiden of my all but forgotten past.
So why then does she look so familiar? And what was it that startled her when our eyes touched? Unsettled her. But of course she cannot be that same beautiful female spirit of ancient days who I left up in glorious heights yesterday…
I hope.
– che chidi chukwumerije..
Some things happen but
Once
In a lifetime…
It was here, it was there
It was where?
It is where?
It is gone…
It will never return.
-che chidi chukwumerije
Der Vogel
Stand
Einen Augenblick
Auf der Straßenlaterne
Drehte sich und flog weg…
Die Straßenlaterne
Stand
Einen Augenblick
Unter dem Vogel
Stand stockstill und bleibt noch auf dem Weg…
Wir sind alle unterwegs.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Stony faces
Weak arms
Biggest Guns
Emptiness.
God has turned His Face Away!
Man at Mercy of the dark
Which virgins have oiled
Their lamps?
Empty streets – stoned
Cold overnight
Sleep of death
Who is beating my heart?
Technology will cure nothing!
E-speed all the faster to communicate
Emptiness and loneliness
From me to you, you to me.
– che chidi chukwumerije.
How can that be?
All this intimacy
And still not happy
All these people
All these hearts
And still so lonely
All these words
All these conversations
And your life still has no meaning
When you’re not with the one you really need
And all that sex
Is just the expression
Of unhappiness.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Blue planet
Becomes greenhouse
Too little room
For blossoming big mushroom
Acid rain
Too many old thoughts undecomposed
Poisoning today’s poison
Wait to exhale
The greenhouse is sweating
Hold that thought
Oxygen rapes carbon dioxide
CO2 shits O2; O3 too
Thermometer measures rising frenzy
Barometer cooling love.
– che chidi chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 