NaPoWriMo (Day 8): The alter-ego (gecko)

For the month of April, I’m writing a poem a day from prompts on https://www.napowrimo.net. You can click on the headlines (Day One, etc) to view/add comments. There’s also a list of participants’ sites below the site header.

Day 8

Here is our daily prompt (optional, as always). Today’s prompt comes to us from this list of “all-time favorite writing prompts”. It asks you to name your alter-ego, and then describe him/her in detail. Then write in your alter-ego’s voice. Maybe your alter-ego is a streetwise detective, or a superhero, or a very small goldfinch. 
 

The alter-ego (gecko)

Lygodactylus williamsi of the Gekkonidae family
is critically endangered out here in the wild.
The gecko’s electric-blue, black-striped sheen
attracts too many collectors who take them home
to enclose them in leafy terrariums under heat lamps,
a poor substitute for the glorious Tanzanian sunshine
and a playground of towering Pandanus palm trees.
 
These lizards span 31 inches from nose to tail tip,
with a surprisingly orange underbelly hidden away.
Adhesive toe pads mean they can stick to and climb up
just about anything, even glass. They’re easy-going,
but backed into a corner they will hiss at any would-be assassin.
Every few weeks they shed their skin in a slow striptease,
gobbling up their costume by the end of the day.
 
                                             ***
 
“I like to bask in the sun, daylight being my favourite time,
for at night you’ll catch me napping. I like the misted air of dawn,
catching dew on my tongue to drink, rustling through the leaf litter
on the ground as I creep my way through the forest floor.
 
We know the Collectors by sight and I’m fast to steal myself away,
out of fear of being caught and never seeing my home again.
No one has ever returned to tell the tale of where they’ve been.
I wonder if it’s another forest or somewhere completely alien.
 
Some people call us the turquoise dwarf or William’s dwarf gecko,
but mainly we’re known as the electric blue, although we females
of the species are sometimes green. Unusually, I’m a bright cyan.
I live in the Kimboza Forest snug in the foothills of the Uluguru Mountains.
 
My home is the Pandanus rabaiensis screwpine tree, and I’m fondest
of the leaf crown. My dinner is made up of small leaf insects and nectar
is my equivalent of a chocolate treat. My best friend, Amon, is brighter
than me, a brilliant blue with the power to dazzle you in the sunshine.
 
He is a gecko of many moods, prone to head-bobbing, tail-wagging
and even throat-puffing. I can never tell which way he’s going to go.
Our first batch of eggs was laid a week ago, two in total, and I’m excited
for them to hatch. It should take 60 to 90 days. Tell you a secret, I can’t wait.”
 
Copyright Vickie Johnstone, April 8, 2022