A bright new day And yet there’s no sun Because the light Is a feeling of warmth Within my heart. To let go of pain Is a human feat You will love again We part to meet And meet to part. There’s a rainbow Universal, not a slogan Or a flag. A Hello Of Hope for everyone Eternity’s chart. Heaven’s memory song How great Thou art. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
day
INTIMATE ENEMIES
A day
Is a long way to travel
A truth
Is a deep lie to unravel
A kiss
Is a message of sorts
Friendship is a breaching
Of the law of torts
Intimacy is most intense
When you and your enemy
Break down each others’ defence.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
NOSTALGIA’S DONE
Just now I saw a morning star, luminous in the sky high up above me. And then suddenly I see it no more. Blue-grey clouds are journeying past in silent, ominous solemnity. Morning has dawned. The birds, they are a-singing. Early people are writing their feet into the road… and I am sitting outside, writing poetry and pretending it is prose.
Perhaps by the time I am through, and raise my head anew, the clouds would have gone completely by, and my star will be visible to me again. But if not, yet still I carry within me the picture of my morning star, as luminous in my heart as it was luminous in the sky.
I suppose this is what they call Nostalgia.
Now, see: the sun is rising, and the light is come again. Star, sun and light. And there is spirit inside of me – spirit and love.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LIGHT AND DARK
Don’t ask me why I did it
You won’t get any answer
That makes any sense to you
I did it ‘cause I’m a dancer
Don’t ask me what kind of music
Plays underneath my propensities
The same hand fingering fine violins
Also thumbs the base of depravities
Don’t ask me how I can bear it
To be sometimes day, sometimes night
It is the fault of the sun
Who keeps me spinning around
Now I love being spun around
Locked in a battle that can’t be won
And can’t be lost, I love the light
Sometimes, and sometimes I fear it.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
DAWN
I chanced to look near dawn
Out of my sorrow
And indigo was the wall
Outside my window
Surprised, I looked away
From night, my widow
Then stole another glance again
At my tomorrow
Tomorrow was in mute concert
Briefly I am my cello
Confused at my own melody
My poem, my strange bedfellow
But night is sheared now finally
Soft day echoes my hello
And as I rise, my waking thought
Sinks away into my pillow.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
LONELY HEARTS PLANET
During the day, they’re saving the world, sharp-minded politicians, stern-faced armed forces, convincing philosophers staring into the camera and huddled around their boardroom tables, anchors, performing the news, personifying stability and the guarantee of mankind’s future – during the day they’re saving the world. At night, see them grope in the dark for a hand, listen for a friend, any friend, yearn for something, anything, to fill inside them this deep hole opened by loneliness. Chronic. Everyday we set out with loud voices and brilliant thoughts to save the world, but who on earth is going to save us too?
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 