Let the Apple Fall Far from the Tree

Let’s go back to the beginning. back to the garden
before the world. was the apple rotten from the start?

let’s say we chose this. our bloodstained destiny,
unbroken line of boots on backs. swinging bodies, broken glass.

were we created good and bad? bad, scrabbling after
goodness, or good with the option to be bad? the latter

feels crueler, like leaving a knife in the cookie jar
open on the table, with instructions not to touch.

I read that Alexandria’s underwater now. I imagine, too,
the Garden of Eden under the sea, filled with fishes.

I soften my hands for the work of Heaven. Do my part.
Turn off lights. Order takeout less. Recycle enough that

maybe the first garden will regrow. God said
He wouldn’t bring the flood again, but we’re so good

at doing the work of destruction ourselves. They say
God has no hands on Earth but ours but why

such clumsy hands, only good for harm reduction? is the
best i can really do to yell as loud as I can?

By Carly Ho

Biography:

Carly Ho is a gay Chinese-American neuroatypical writer and web developer from Chicago, Illinois. Her work has appeared in Vagabond City, and she currently has one self-published chapbook.