Beauty Poster

The backdrop is a white sandy beach,
Coconut groves cast their shade, a tropical coastline.
Bikini girls and tropical fish swim into the window frame.
Under a sun umbrella, a fat white man in a floral shirt
Is a row of greasy hot dogs tucked with sausages.
A little girl from the East,
A camera on her chest, says my appearance
Is exactly like Popeye, fifty years later.
She secretly presses the shutter; my soul
And my beer belly, my barrel waist, are sucked into the lens,
Turning into a life-sized cardboard cutout.

A few days later, the little girl appears,
Gives me that photo, and agrees
To send me one of her salon posters another day.
While she stares absent-mindedly at the sea,
I pick up the sausage fork
And poke her tender butt.
Unexpectedly, she quickly loses her anger,
Becomes thin, flattened, lying as a poster.

I pick up the poster and hang it at the shopfront,
The salty sea breeze lifts her hair.
Her smile exudes a kind of cold wildness,
Like a biting cat, challenging
Every pair of jealous eyes.
I proudly sell Rejuvenation Marble Soda,
Anti-wrinkle cream, and electric face-lift irons.

— Chen Qufei, 2015.07.30