She Didn't Cry
Peter Lechuga
The little girl wore a pink helmet, pink elbow pads, pink knee pads, and a pink backpack when she ran from the crawling, choking clouds spewing hate from an emptying canister. What did she carry in that backpack? Water for the burning? Fruit for the starving? Ideas for the revolution? Planets for us to call home? Stars to keep us dreaming? Or the promise that the future will always hope for something better? She didn't cry, she chanted louder than their guns.
Poem forthcoming in Author Pop Ups Spring ‘26.
Peter Lechuga is a Mexican-American poet, writer, teacher, musician, emcee, and karaoke king born and raised in Southern California. Lechuga is the author of _Myth Opportunities_, published by Daxson Publishing. Lechuga is the co-founding editor of the ILL Anthology. He makes anti-capitalist, anti-colonial hip-hop with the avant-garde art collective, Pilgrimms, whose tunes can be found anywhere you stream music. When not reading, writing, or killing the mic, he can be found hiking, spitting freestyles.
(Edited by Cinnamoroll)