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One Poem
by Alex Deng

Self-Help Book

The professor theorizes about 
post-romance using a Twitter thread. 
A robin dies. My torso 
is strewn across the grass 
screen. Glass screen? I have feeds to feed, 
translucent hearts to pin to pictures. 

Don't track my location. 
You know where I am. (If not 
in class, then trampling the tulips.) 
Let's finish this game of Monopoly, 
then never talk again.

I was at the bluffs the other day, with 
a metal detector, looking for a ring  
that would fit into the bolts, but I ended up
ranting about the literacy rates of children. 

Then I started a petition for the robin, 
he told me. If I like you, isn’t that enough? 
In this age of misinformation, 
it’s difficult to tell how big my hand is.

Alex Deng was born in Guangzhou and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto). Alex has appeared or is forthcoming in the anthology Chickenscratch 2024, Ricepaper Magazine, Canadian Literature, and ROOTed Rhythms. He is working toward his MA in English (Public Texts) at Trent University. He loves eating noodles and reading poetry.