STRANGE

NO MATTER WHAT

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

What if Rosa Parks had got up from her seat?
What if Churchill had agreed to negotiate with Hitler?
Sometimes even when you are down
Still you must refuse to bow down.

What if Dundee had not pushed out Clay in Round 5 against Liston?
What if Ali had kept his belt and gone to Vietnam?
Sometimes you have to face your opponent blindfolded, because that moment is your destiny and you just have to fight on.

To resist evil, no matter what
To do the right thing, no matter what
To stand to your conviction, no matter what
To keep on fighting, no matter what

A thousand years are as one day
And the way seems to last forever
Sometimes, like now, I feel so strange to myself
As if I were someone else
Somewhere else far far away
Awakening inside me
And, even though I don’t understand it
I just have to let it continue
To take over me,
No matter what.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

A LITTLE WIND

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

To encompass a mighty tale
Within the letters of a little poem
Little sentence, little phrase
One little word

To start with the clue and end with the question
To give the world in every act
To live a life never lived before
By you.

– che chidi chukwumerije.

STAY ON YOUR PATH

~ Che ~ 1 Comment

The words will still be the one

The one to articulate Silence
When we sing the praises of Silence
We do so with words

The strange bird will still be the one

The one to carry your story forward
Even though you ostracized him
He will preserve your story
When strangers rule the world.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

BEING DIFFERENT

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

UNRAVELLING THE mystery that is my own soul, I pondered and sought; I wondered about my beginning. Woman and man in a garden. Which garden? East or west? Home is best, they say.

So I went home into my spirit-man and discovered an a different person dwelling within, staring back at me with my own face but not my own eyes.

“Different person,” I asked him, “Who are you and what are you doing inside my heart?”

But he only returned my gaze without giving an answer, and I sensed that I must find the answer myself. Myself? But who is myself?

The mystery took shape, deepened, arose. I wandered from pole to pole. But each time I thought I had found my goal, I saw the different person inside my heart again, looking back at me with my own face but not with my own eyes.

I wanted to scream, but my heart rejected this. I lay me down to sleep, but sleep ejected me. So on and on I wander and sojourn, on and on I go, seeking to unravel this mystery that is simply my very own self.

And each time I think I have found the answer, I see him again, a different person inside my soul, staring back at me with my face but not with my eyes.

Who are you, I wonder, you stranger in my soul?

What are you, why are you, so different, so alien, so silent, so bold?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE STRANGE BIRD

~ Che ~ 3 Comments

I am the one who left the herd
Who defied the labels outcast and nerd
Who made roses out of turd
Who broke his word to keep his word
Who seeks the unknown, victory assured
Who sang the strange song your spirit heard
I am the one, he, the strange bird.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

CHIMERA

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The moment she stopped being a chimera and became a human woman, memory and experience kicked in – my fascination waned, my hot blood cooled, my wild pursuit slowed down, and I hesitated… – Do I really want a real woman? Where is my chimera? Give me back my chimera. I want a strange thing that haunts my imagination and promises the unknown and knocks me out of my senses and makes me feel strange things. She looked at me and shook her head and said: Be careful what you wish for; learn to be grateful for the simple things you get.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

ECCENTRICITY

~ Che

So what on earth
Is really wrong
With being an eccentric?

Nature, when you rub it
Or bring opposite poles together
Becomes electric

Perception when it expands
And touches all sources
Becomes eclectic

People when you force them
Into an unnatural Framework
Become erratic

And almost every great Invention
Or new thought
Came from an eccentric.

So tell me…
What on earth could be wrong wrong
WIth being an eccentric?

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.

THE STRANGE BEAUTY OF A GOOD WOMAN

~ Che ~ Leave a comment

What, is it?
Struck, like thunderbolt
Thunder, and lightning
Yet gentle, as falling snow
Omnipresent, like substance
Everywhere, you turn it is
You cannot, hide away
From it
Once, it has caught you
In its tender, net –

It is love, some say
Pure, selfless love, they say
It is strange, is all I know
Makes, you ashamed
Afraid
And, after you have conquered, yourself
Weathered, shame and fear
It makes, you humble
And all you want, to do now
Strange
Is serve, the Almighty.

This is what, it does to you
This is what, it does to you
The strange beauty
Of, a good woman.

– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.