Something is wrong with the world fundamentally, But nobody can put their finger on what it is exactly. The world’s borrowers owe the world’s lenders much more money Than the whole world makes and owns - It’s almost funny. Where did all that money come from and where did it go to? Creditors and debtors are one and the same entities too. What is money? What is currency? Before them how did the world feel? The value of distrust is greedy - It’s all just numbers. It’s not real. Che Chidi Chukwumerije Poems from the inner river
wealth
INNER AND OUTER HEALTH
You switch between poor and rich But which is which? Your soul is a glitch. Wealth never made you rich It only made you a bitch Poverty never made you a witch It simply left you in a stitch Being poor and being rich Have both given you an itch Scratch the surface, it is a ditch Being poor and being rich Are two sides off the middle pitch Scratch the sides, run into a hitch Only Health is wealth, that’s the glitch. Che Chidi Chukwumerije
THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE
TWO MEN in search of fortune.
Said the first:
“I will stay and farm my father’s land!”
Said the second:
“I will go and find the Wheel of Fortune, and I will turn it in my direction, and I shall possess it and I shall wield it, and I shall be a controller of happenings, a decider of destinies.”
Said the first:
“You will come back and beg me for a little plot of land on which to farm.”
Said the second:
“You will seek me and plead with me to turn your fortunes around with the Wheel of Fortune.”
Said the first:
“You cannot find the Wheel of Fortune. It is not a physical thing that can be grasped with the hand or seen with the eye. It is a power which started as a concept. It is everywhere.”
Said the second:
“It is a power which started as a concept and ended up as a wheel, a physical wheel that can be grasped with the hand and seen with the eye. I will find it and I will place a firm hold on it. It shall be mine. The Wheel of Fortune. Fortune!”
Said the Spirit of Fortune:
“The sooner you start, the better.”
The years have gone by and still he seeks. Through fortune and misfortune, through pleasure and pain, he seeks the wheel of fortune, that he may become a controller of happenings, a decider of destinies.
Said the first:
“The years have passed. Fortune, which smiled at me in the first few years, frowns now upon me. The harvest is meager. The earth sits hard upon me. Where is my friend who went to seek the Wheel of Fortune? I must find him. He will surely turn the wheel in my favour, and the winds shall turn in kind.”
Said the second:
“The years have passed. My wandering feet thirst for rest, my restless heart for peace. I have searched everywhere, in vain. I must return to my friend. Surely he will find for me a little plot of land where I can seek my fortune and fulfil my destiny.”
Said the Spirit of Fortune to the first:
“The sooner you go, the better.”
Said the Spirit of Fortune to the second:
“The sooner you return, the better.”
They met again upon the Highway at the halfway point between the going and the returning.
Said the first:
“My friend, have you found the Wheel of Fortune now? For you must turn it my way. The soil is unyielding, the farm is fruitless.”
Said the second:
“No, I have not found the wheel of fortune and was just on my way to you, that you may find me a little of your land where I may seek my fortune, for the road grows weary beneath my feet.”
Said the first:
“But you assured me that the Wheel of Fortune is a findable physical thing.”
Said the second:
“And you assured me that the land would one day support both of us!”
Said the first:
“The land is a deceiver, now I know. It is the whore of fortune and his worthless plaything! I shall go now and find the Wheel of Fortune. Then shall I own the land.”
Said the second:
“Oh, my friend, but you err. Fortune has no wheel. Myths have given birth to this belief. The land is the key to fortune. The land is the wheel of fortune. Possess the land and you have grasped fortune’s wheel.”
Said the first:
“I have turned the land several times, sometimes with my pitchfork, other times with a multitude of other implements such as my shovel, my hoe and my fingers, but not once did my fortune lastingly turn, although I turned the earth repeatedly. Sometimes the winds turned, briefly, but fortune never really. Thus I act with full clarity today. You can have the land if you wish. I shall find the Wheel of Fortune and I shall posess it and I shall wield it and I shall be a controller of happenings, a decider of destinies.”
Said the second:
“When you return to me, begging me to return your father’s land to you, I shall not do so. For it is now mine! Bear this in mind.”
Said the first:
“When you come to me, pleading with me to turn the Wheel of Fortune in your favour, I shall not do so! I shall abandon you to your fate. Bear this in mind.”
Said the second:
“Oh, you fool, why will you not come that we may together plough the land?! Two pairs of hands will soften its heart. There is no physical Wheel of Fortune! It is a power that began as a concept.”
Said the first:
“Fortune is a person. He bears a face and owns a wheel. I shall find him and I shall take the wheel from him. Then shall I turn the wheel against him. My wheel.”
Said the Spirit of Fortune to both:
“The earlier you proceed, the better.”
The years passed by like the wind, and old age crept upon them. The land softened and yielded rich harvests, but Fortune and his wheel refused to be found.
Said the first:
“I am old and grey. My days are numbered, my memories rich and poor. I shall return to my father’s land and there shall I lay down, for I do not want to die upon the road.”
Said the second:
“I am old and grey. My days are numbered, my memories many and few. I shall set off again after the Wheel of Fortune, that I may turn it and prolong my life and reactivate the youth in me. If I die now, all is lost and I shall be buried upon another man’s land. But if Fortune, who has smiled at me through the land, permits me now to find his wheel, then I shall change the course of my future.”
Said the Spirit Fortune to the first:
“Hurry, hurry, time is.”
Said the Spirit of Fortune to the second:
“Hurry, hurry, time is.”
Their paths crossed again, this time at the junction that leads everybody on.
Said the first:
“Why are you here? Have you not mastered the land which for you is the wheel of fortune?”
Said the second:
“I am tired of you. Please, move out of my way. Your father’s land is there. You can have it if you wish. Die on it; you are old enough for that now. I will have nothing to do with it anymore. It has brought me nothing but comfort, and prevented me from seeking the Wheel of Fortune, which was the ardent spiritual goal of my youth! Look at me: now I am an old man.”
Said the first:
“Then you shall die upon the road. I hope somebody finds you and buries you. I shall conclude my earthly wanderings there where I belong.”
Said the second:
“Rest in peace. Adieu.”
And then they parted ways, never to meet again upon the earth.
Said Fortune:
“Another twist, another turn,
And life goes on…
If they ask, or seek, or yearn
All I can do is turn and point them on…
The path they must go themselves –
The change they must work themselves
The moment they must grasp themselves –
The seeds of fortune they must sow themselves –
I am just a referee…
“Though men pass me by a thousand times
Never do they recognise me;
Nor is it necessary, as long as they heed
The Inner Voice in them that speaks to me.
“For I must obey, I must obey…
And place what they ask for upon their way.”
—–
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
WEALTH OF POVERTY
They shrink away instinctively
Disgustedly
From the poor
As though poverty were a disease
But even faster they
Avert their thought-sprinkled eyes
Nobody wants to see Shame
The shame mirrored within
Who is ashamed of whom?
Of what?
The rich is ashamed for being rich
The poor is ashamed for being poor
They both are ashamed of being
In the company of each other
One hopes the tides will turn
One fears the tides will turn.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
GLOBAL UNITY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE
The Elite and Power-holders, traditionally few in number, always find a way to prevent the masses from uniting against them. The most popular and effective, trusted and time-tested, methods are the instigation and strengthening of racism, tribalism, sexism, religious intolerance, etc, within and amongst and between the masses. Man, being a living being, soaks up these sentiments and they grow within him, upon which he begins to also defend and propagate them; thus they become self-perpetuating from generation to generation, across centuries, and people even forget where and when and why these things started.
But these things were never the actual problem of the masses in the first place. It’s all an illusion. True, when different sides happen upon each other there is initial distrust and competition; but there is also curiousity, such that left on their own – if there is no conscious malicious and insidious effort to awaken fear of each other amongst them – they will always merge with time as they unite in the common struggle to master the battle of life. Especially when they face a common threat, e.g. nature and the elements.
But man has a fragile nature sometimes. In his struggle to master his own personal little life he can lose sight of the bigger picture, thus making him gullible and susceptible to the intrigue and manipulation of those who seek their own personal and selfish goals. And those who have money and power, or who strive after money and power, know well to prevent the masses from ever uniting against them or developing a WE-consciousness as a united group. Thus they keep them occupied with the individual struggle for existence, or distracted by a media barrage of empty things of no importance and, as the master stroke of genius, they keep them divided amongst themselves by pulling the strings and feeding the sentiments of religion, ethnicity, race, sexism, etc.
Any leader or leadership system which really loves its people will seek to unite them. This however is rare. Instead what we see are power-centers which perpetually ensure that the flames of division (religion, racism, ethnicity) never die. All the rest of the people perpetuating these things are just blind tools. But if you follow the trail of the true power-centers it will always lead to where the money is. Follow the trail of the money’s smell. Those who have the money – who OWN the global wealth – are the ones who make sure that those who need the money always stay divided amongst themselves. Divided and distracted, so that they will never see the effort being deliberately made to keep them from recognising the path that will lead to freedom. The path of unity.
People, unite.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
CLASS DIVIDE (II)
It’s called the hardworking middle-class
Let’s call it the narrow mountain-pass
For it keeps nervously thinning out
The underworld is getting crowdy
And impatient and restless and rowdy
Getting ready for a bout
The top one percent noiselessly feeds
Off the profits, the interests, the proceeds
No sound, no word, no whisper, no shout.
– Che Chidi Chukwumerije.
P.O.V.ERTY
Sand for breakfast
Tasted no better than shit
I don’t beg for alms anymore
I just snatch it
My mother’s tears
Son I did not bring you up to be a thief
Mom you didn’t raise me to suffer in poverty, did you?
I just want some relief.
Sometimes they look out of their cars
Our eyes meet
I wonder if they ever wonder
If I know the taste of meat.
If I were in their shoes
Would I mean nothing to me
If driving by I saw me chained by poverty
In a system that benefits only me.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
THE ELIXIR AND THE MUSE
Joy is my elixir
Sorrow is my muse
When one is not there
The other I use
The mountain-top of poverty
Will give you a clear view
Into the character of humanity
And make a sage of you
The dark depths of wealth
Will expose you to propensity
To indulge in all things that tempt
And to understand vanity
You will see needy nations
Full of natural born resources
Of lazy corrupted wasted generations
Raining on each other backward curses
You will see greedy nations
With the mastery of bright inventions
Choose instead to perfect division
And to invent and sell deadly weapons
You will see great minds
Of science, religion and philosophy
Brainwashing weaker minds
Into believing everyone different is their enemy
You will feel the cold power of politics
In high and low places
And learn to respect the simplest tricks
For they win the most complex races
You will despair and turn to the dark side
And hear its mocking laughter
You will look for the light far and wide
And severity will be its answer
Illness will teach you
That your body is not all of you
There is eternal life inside of you
It is the real you
And you will learn from disgrace
How fickle are our human ways
When you’re up they’re quick to praise
And quick to damn you in your fallen days
Wonder above wonder
The flight of technology
Cannot take you any further
Than truth, hope and simplicity
Trust is still a riddle
Treachery a talking drum
Death still waits in the middle
Of the life you can’t escape from
Only love, only love will understand
And bring you strength and succour
Even as it holds in its tender hand
A little joy, a little sorrow
The power to open our eyes
To the little acts of kindness
That tower above parochial ties
And cure the heart of its blindness
To civilise joy with purpose
And pacify pain with message
For just as poetry elevates prose
Goodness preserves youth in age
Some bend the word
To achieve selfish aims
Diplomacy becomes their sword
So who are we to blame?
Joy is my elixir
Sorrow is my muse
When one is not there
The other I use.
– CHE CHIDI CHUKWUMERIJE.
Che Chidi Chukwumerije 