Divine Sisterhood

I.

At October’s full moon
Her effigy rises like jagged cliffs
Gulps lesser gods whole

The city she saved paints her a killer
Ruby red demon-slayer, stained savior
Rage like a drought-ravaged tigress

Eight arms make for treacherous dancing
And as many worthy weapons of destruction:
An octopodic death machine

That men’s armies could only dream of
She is Elphaba to Athena’s Galinda
Dark-skinned queen of queens,

Branded to one billion lambs of sacrifice
Though she returns home to a husband who
Prefers his snake, his bombastic trident

In pastel-shaded cartoons they assign her soft sinusoidals,
While she tosses thunder from abstract prehistoric eyes

And although she too has launched a thousand ships
No one will call her by name,
(Parvati, Kali, Durga?)

As they devour the fruits of her labor
As they dress her in fancy flora

II.

Lakshmi: nobody’s consort

Maiden in waiting
Careful now
Pull that shimmer sari closer

your penchant for the cerulean gaze, your thrill for the well-defined jaw
is it any coincidence that your lotus flower draws gods?

*A twinkling Diana laugh*

Makes Indra’s court catch their slender breath

white-boned shutters corset closed
suspicion s l i d e s its way through the heavens like golden thread

You hold your own, draw them down with your owl eyes
Flutter stories, sarcasm, and sass

With your card games, with your slow song

Quick before he overshadows you,
Descends down to the earth ten rescues over

Escape with your explanations, coming fast and thick
A snake charmer’s basket:
Your hidden compartments

He should fear your milky oceans
He should worship you

III.

Apocalypse comes simple
In myriad languages and religions

Happens like this:
Amidst the elation, rabble turns rabid

The cherry blossoming is lovely
Pleasingly, humankind preens poetic

But once an era,
The attention is overwhelming

The deities have drunk one too many
Stumble into court imperiously smashed

redemption

So, blue-woman: muster your golden arrows,
Spin your chakra, controlled weave

Cross the border
Into worlds free of stretchmarks

Created, sung into being, skeeballed true, by you
Vacation has bitten to a close too soon, again

Flip a switch, turn a donkey wheel
Churn the seas.

It pains you to disturb the life aquatic
In that way