oh deer, i am sorry for your roadside
funeral—speeding procession of shock & pity
we wonder how a deer dies—suicide?
& what of the fender that did you in
eyeless bastard with no regard for nature
this your backyard—black boys sympathetic though
know what it like to lie in the road for hours
the sun making fun of your composure
oh deer, how you decompose bloodless body
party of rigor mortis only your head
disintegrates into a mulch of leaves
black boys not as graceful their clumsy blood
shimmers & shames the pavement oh dear deer,
at least your death accident though some’ll say
you had it coming
t’ai freedom ford is a New York City high school English teacher and Cave Canem Fellow. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Drunken Boat, Sinister Wisdom, No, Dear, The African American Review, Vinyl, Muzzle, Poetry and others. Her work has also been featured in several anthologies including The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. In 2012 and 2013, she completed two multi-city tours as a part of a queer women of color literary salon, The Revival. t’ai lives and loves in Brooklyn, but hangs out digitally at: shesaidword.com.