I see dead people They don’t know they’re dead Their physical body is still living And has not yet been shed They walk and they talk, They laugh, weep and they smile They occupy all walks of life And don’t always seem vile Their mind silences their heart Their intellect dulls their intuition It seems insignificant But it’s at the root of the human condition Listen to your inner voice Don’t leave everything to your head Or you’ll be walking with the living And not realise you’re dead. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
dead
THE GRACE
Though disgraced
I will not lose my face
I will raise it
that the sun
may shine on me.
Every fibre of my being
Every corner of my soul
Every song of my spirit
Will become new –
for the flames of the sun
have killed me.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije
THE GREATER DEATH
Literature murders poetry
Fine Arts murders art
Education murders the spirit
The intellect stands victorious over the intuition
The dead over the living
The darkness over the light
Human is dead for now
Tomorrow human will die the greater death.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
WALKING THE TALK
I’m alive
When I was dead
The words flowed
Knocking knocking in the coffin
Now I’m alive
They hold their peace
I don’t write my fantasies anymore
I live them now
When I start writing again
Pity me. Mourn, mourn for me.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 