A journal of art + literature engaging with nature, culture, the environment & ecology

Two poems by Chrystal Ho

Chrystal Ho, Singapore

 

Walking Home 

  

A hedge demarcates a point on the road, lengthwise, that cannot be crossed. 

 

A lone frangipani tree stretching skyward: the edge of the road, or the infinite space between a public walkway and private property. 

 

The maturity of an estate may be gauged not by the trunk of its largest tree, but the lushness of its hanging creepers, a telltale bird’s nest fern. 

 

A border of limp sparrow mango trees, planted equidistant: impending deforestation. 

 

In a past life, the ixora bush was a tree with luscious clusters of fiery blooms. 

 

An ixora bush in full bloom: newly delivered from the nursery. 

Summer Poem

For a girl of the tropics, a summer poem

on a Greek island is an everyday poem. 

Every day, the birds will gather

on the electrical wiring by the terrace 

to chitter sweet nothings and fly away 

before everyone else is awake, 

leaving only their song behind for breakfast. 

Every day the sky is blue enough 

to make a pair of sailor’s pants for a child sailor, 

a petite one, or a giant sailor whose stride 

is so large she will pass Mount Athos 

in a mere matter of steps and even when it isn’t, 

the roaring grey downpour will first release 

the familiar stench of asphalt before 

the fleeting sweetness of damp earth. 

Every day on this island is a summer poem,

even when the trees are scorched bald 

as though they’ve come too close to the sun. 

Every day, where I am surrounded by sunscreen 

and water, but cannot smell the coconuts. 

 

Chrystal Ho is a writer from Singapore who works with poetry and non-fiction. Her work has previously been published in The Tiger Moth Review, PR&TA Journal, and The Hawker, amongst others. A former Global Writing & Speaking Fellow at NYU Shanghai, she is currently a Creative Resident at the National Library of Singapore. 

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