FUNERAL SONGS

1/2/2022

By Chisom M. Eze

“I love the sounds my heart makes whenever you break it.
Sounds like my playlist; from heavy metal to indie rock”

You have me;
Listening to jazz music on rainy nights,
when the storm clouding my eyes peak.
Explains the tears drowning my fingers in salt water.

You’ve got me;
Playing the harp at morning devotions.
My strums lack grace
and I do not recognize the chords,
but I infuse so much pain,
the angels have to recognize my dedication
to being taken off of this earth.

You’ve got me;
Listening to the rhythm of the blues.
To every beat and the very percussion of melancholy.
Where did my heart learn to play the drums?
To substitute soul(s) music
is to deprive oneself of food.
But I stay starved
because you wrung out all the Joy my body held onto,
how crooked of you.

You’ve got me;
Listening to rap on days I seek to fill this void.
With cannabis or booze?
I’m under the influence
of you.
Perusing the records of our existence whilst burning old letters,
to keep my corpse warm.

‘No one ever talks about how lovers are liable to die hurt’

Writer's Biography

Chisom M. Eze popularly known as The Aliensoul, is a 22 year old poet, songwriter and creative writer. He has been writing since childhood, short stories about a boy named Obi and several adventures of a girl named Jennifer. He started writing poetry officially in 2015, mostly about love, its fancy, heartbreak and its charms, depression, mental illness, the onus of living. He has a chapbook that's currently in the works.

Chisom reads a lot that he does not have any favourite books.e does however have authors he likes to read, such as Remi Akinwande (apollotheyouth), Pamilerin Jacob (Jacques Wharley), Odule O' Susanne (Susanne O. Sussane), Derek Ehiorobo (derekimagines), John Dele (temmywrites), Chimamanda Adichie, Chimdindu Zikora, Kofoworola Odozi, John Dele and more.

Chisom doubles as a musician/songwriter during the day/most of the night and a poet in the evenings and early mornings.

Being quite the "art butterfly" Chisom draws, sings, cooks, models and dances (horribly).
He's a graduate of Architecture from the University of Nigeria and does not believe in continuing on that path.

Chisom is quite passionate about mental health advocacy. Suffering from depression and anxiety for years, he longs to see a spread of the knowledge about mental illness, its misconceptions, symptoms, and the benefits of therapy.

He is Pro LGBTQ and a feminist. Also quite passionate about Animé and strongly believes everyone should watch it.

4 Comments

Deborah

5/2/2022 12:59:04 pm

Melancholy. That's the word that pervades this poem. And while we are not strange to such tone in bearing the burden of a heartbreak piece, Chisom introduces us to something more ingeniously relatable.

The poem reads like a song. Indeed it is lyrical, as if in obeisance to the elements of music which notes and chords the poet uses to describe his fallen and distracted state.

The effect of the message captures in the fifth stanza where the poet alludes to a void inside them and the longing that springs from being a warm corpse. The trick is perfected from scratch where we are pulled into this grief through (and only through the mind of the poet.

Chisom deserves his flowers.

Ugochukwu Anadị

28/2/2022 10:38:32 am

“whilst burning old letters,
to keep my corpse warm.”

This particular line, and the closing quote, is the summary of the poem for me.

Chisom employs imagery in a way that's moving in this poem filled with melancholy -- an after effect of a heartbreak. For everyone who has been heartbroken and seeks solace, or who haven't been but wishes to understand what it feels like, this is the poem.

Music is therapeutic and Chisom being a 'Music person' captures that as excellently as can be done here. One can feel the persona (which I do think is the poet, but which can be anybody considering that heartbreak is a universal phenomenon, a 'national moimoi' in the Nigerian parlance) striking the strings of the harp, hoping to strike away their melancholy in the poem.

Onafuye Yetunde

28/2/2022 11:06:33 am

Music and love inspired poetry? Sign me up!

In this poem, the writer uses different kinds of music to depict emotions caused by a lover, or former lover. The poem is so descriptive that I could feel every emotion. The writer is clearly a great lover of different genres of music, and that is why he was able to combine his emotions with that of the different music styles.

I was expecting a paragraph about listening to Afrobeat(s) and how it made the personae feel. Lol, just kidding.

Lucy shima

28/2/2022 12:32:48 pm

This poem is so heartbreakingly beautiful I didn't want it to end.
Elegantly drenched in melancholy,
From the opening line "I love the sounds my heart makes whenever you break it..."
To the closing line "no one ever talks about how lovers are liable to die hurt."
Are all the proofs you need,It also enables a reader feel the emotions of the personae more accurately.

The poet's use of repetition and genres of music give the work a lyrical flow impossible to ignore.

It's safe to say Chisom knows his onion.

FUNERAL SONGS

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Copyright @SprinNG

FUNERAL SONGS

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Copyright @SprinNG​

Copyright @SprinNG