Y u y i C h e n —

Once there was a gecko

Once the gecko wore a turtle
neck suit
to the dinner table

The gecko’s big belly
was as majestic
as the philosopher newly appointed 

as the Director
of graduate studies

The gecko made 
inappropriate jokes

about animal instincts
in the community of
domestic pests

The gecko paused
in the middle of this ramble
and turned its attention
to the human beings

eating Chinese takeout in plastic
containers
watching reality TV

Where unhappy couples displaying
their unhappiness

in anticipation
of being watched

by two friends in shock
of the newly found resentment

during the once easy
hangouts and meal
sharings

The gecko narrowed its eyes
(an ominous thin strip of sky)
making comments

that were later documented
by the poet auditing the friends’ life

The poem went:

in con-
tagion symbiosis
bodies ven-
tilate
in exchange

for excrements so
souls go in-
crementally tango

go by and by
the bounding overlaps
terror overshadows al-

right al-
ready signifies

distinct indi-
vidual
the visual
of love visions 
the varying lingo

despite! Despite the
spite the despise

of what was once
mortalized now metamorphosizes

the difficulty lies
in words preceding
roles the separation 
assigns

a reunion unfortunately requires
space and now the storage of such
material is stunted

dumbfounded giggle face you
used to flex
now grief summons theorization

only to find the opposition
of each’s composition
obstructs

the commune one of you
secretly privatizes

how pitiful! The gecko
pissed on the floor

before it ascended in manners
completely foreign

to human bio
logical

Friend A insisted the gecko was merely
a hallucination resulting from substance abuse

Friend B
on the other hand

recalled vividly the evidence of a green
creature dormant on their dinner table

She pointed out friend A’s blindness 
to the quotidian serendipity 
was exactly the reason 

behind the enlarging
friction 

She said the hard evidence
of the gecko’s presence 
was obvious enough 

during the very first times they realized 
a hazardous voyage to the unknown terrain 

of co-
living in a world

that was no longer a miniature 
a disaster sunken 

and indulged in 
proximity 

The thing we call friendship Friend B
said
was as illusory as 
the shadow of a gecko or just 

the emergency it triggered 
in domesticity  

she was conveying 
the doomed inevitability but
friend A sulked 

at her pessimism that equaled
abandonment despite some

only name it the pain of growing 

Even if the gecko existed 
friend A conceded
it validated nothing 

In such moments of tension
the gecko cleared its throat 
and commanded the poet: 

many creatures
occupy the signifier

an exception
this animal
is. It disappears 

half a tail when 
the chase gets too close
to a death imminent. 

having this other half
in hand, ask yourself:

whose job is
to leave the intact

whose is to
flee the creaks
and crevices?

The two friends stopped 
talking after
the dinner was left with
ambiguity

The words 
on the other hand 
spread wide and instigated 
criticism 

of the poet
 
Whose voice was intentionally 
stifled and whose presence 

during the event the poem referred to 
Was artfully obscured 

Who are you
the one hiding behind the gecko 

Are you - 
friend A pointed to her
phantasms of a writer  

Or are you - 
friend B pointed
to an ambitious metaphor  

in the buzzing sound of the gecko
the poet buzzed  

the predatory nature 
of avoidment  

Zzzzzzz zz zzzzzz
The gecko buzzed!  

Zzz zzzzzzz zzz
The poet took over - 

zzzz zzzz zzz
zzzzzzzzzz  z
zz zzz zzzzz
zz? zzz! zzzz
zzz z z. zzzz
z zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
zzz  z zzz zzz
              zzz
                          z
zzz zzzz
zzz
zzzzzz -------
z z z  z z z z z z z 

The truth sounded
wet and furious 

a riot
if dare 

be the tempo of
a last 
composition 

since then
every body regressed 

touching the gecko’s skin
tubercles the poetry
just writes 

itself wondering
and won
dering the friends’ mistakes

.