Little Deer Cry

A poem by Charlie Ho

Untitled by Xuanwei Su

Little deer,
why do you cry?
for crushed olives and uncountable days
and pollen-filled sockets.
Popo made apple pie with bits of lemon,
                 it’s just how you like it.
but behind the terracotta curtain, she’s
       hunched        over Mama’s yarn, picking
anxiously
again
        again
                 again
    and again.
                     4 times for
the stroller Teeter-Tottering
    the man with rock-salt wounds
       the red cardinal hit on Saint-Street
           the little girl wine-flushed on the neck
go on.
      ask me again,
One
      more Time, i beg,
to cry for closed headlights
to cry for wildfire tongues
to cry for desecrated land
to cry for Everything that makes us human,
                 bare flesh against a jolt-whip.

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Charlie Ho (she/her) is a high school student based in Hong Kong with a passion for exploring the complexities of the human experience through her work. Her writing has been published in various literary journals. She serves as the editor-in-chief of Chartium, a magazine dedicated to empowering youth through creative expression.

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