EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, WE REFLECT TOGETHER

*

The people
they say
say the people
shoulder to shoulder
a featherless clock bird
fail to strike at the right time

Back to the exit
flea the people
the people flee
ass to ass
harvest field of candidates
disappearing the season

The president
he says
says the president
polishing tides
wave to wave
circles the yeast
yearning for the pees

The pees popping inside
water break
bills cling

*

On the other hand
the desert
a crocodile blade
ironing the tears burnt

sling the counter
modern kitchen up to date

Howl a perceived –
conceived – mistake

Your president is trash
so are you
lots of irony in hand

Come and play sands
no despair he says
says he who always rhymes

Drowning in your swamp
I fist my way to your heart
all that’s ought to be pained
has pained in an opposite way

There’s no water
just cycle
my blood breaking irregular

And your pills
your pills I swallow
I swallow with water intact

SCHOLAR

*

work is done
is umm un-done?
is un doing

itself “re-
turn” re:
work done

pay tribute
to work un
done until

more words
are done
boarding the boeing

bureau of hue-
midity no no hu-
manity minacity?

minority maybe?
dare I proceed -

*

“save” the work
“control” the words
“shift” the walrus

“alt” the mole
“command” the moon
“delete” the main

the maine coon
a zoo of cocoon
where boars

bore the books
boo the works
meat the worms

mourning the words
of moral more

*

behold the work
the scholar deplore
the scholar rejoice

the scholar dilly dally
& ask for
it all

it all
matters so much
it all matters

it all counts
on me too
It all cunts

Yuyi Chen is from Sichuan, China. They are now in a PhD program in anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. Their poems are published or forthcoming in Nat. Brut, antiphony, Landfill, and Pile Press. Their chapbook EROTIC CONTINENT is forthcoming in 2025 (discount guillotine).