I Dreamt Of The Gods


I dreamt of the gods again.
Or rather, I dreamt that I
was Mohini this time

and you were Shiva,
Bhasmasur’s hand over your head
lowering hungrily

to cremate you,
as in the movie-clip we found
on YouTube. But in this case,

I was the woman
jumping out from behind a tree.
(“Do you notice how the film

speeds up at this point?”)
I was Mohini, vibrating
madly, a wilder

Shakira. As I shimmied,
winked and posed
for the demon, I wondered

if the god inside Mohini
might have suffered a little
panic? Did Vishnu fear,

for a second, that he might
lose this dance after all,
that both of them could

perish in fire? Imagine
me now, in this dream
about dancing

hard and fast enough
to save my love, drawing
extinction away with just

a thrust of my hip,
a star in my eye,
a hand on my head.

from Tilting Our Plates To Catch The Light

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