foreground

That year when the peacock just

showed up in our neighborhood, I had

heard they were loud, what I didn’t

know was that they are loud in the

middle of the night, at odd intervals

just long enough to fall back asleep in.

I printed this dress with Krishna’s

peacock feather, thinking about his

reputation as a considerate and

fulfilling lover to each of his many

girlfriends. Last night I didn’t sleep much,

maybe it was the full moon or maybe

I’m more jittery from the news, the public

hostility over vaccine and virus,

than I want to let on. When I did sleep

I dreamed of my council of wise women,

sitting around a fire, laughing together.

“Men,” one said, “those guys who think

they run the show, they have this idea

that they can control everything.”

“The world will fall apart if they don’t,”

said another, to more laughter. “Their world

will fall apart if we don’t notice them,”

said another, as we all laughed and laughed.

I told them how hard I had worked to get the

overdye color right. It needed a very particular

grey to set off the bright peacock blue.