My 39th encounter with the peacock

The barber, he, dutiously trimmed my beard
Under a Jacaranda tree
Whose leaves were falling
Seasonally

Hello
Said the peacock
Who I didn't recongnise
Sans his feathers

So
Whose was the greater loss?
My beard, the Jacaranda
The peacock?

Or the barber
Who hawked people's hair
To fund his fees
For night-school

My 38th encounter with the peacock

Half a kilo of pure happiness
Can you home deliver that to me
After all, I'm the national bird of this unhappy country
Since 1963

You don't want me flying
Across the border
To Burma or Sri Lanka
As a mark of protest

My 37th encounter with the peacock

Why don't you fly
Ever so high
Like the other birds
In the sky

My feet are ugly
I want to hide them
If I fly you will be able to see my feet
Said the peacock

That's how the peacock and I
Set out to purchase a pair of shoes

My 36th encounter with the peacock

I woke up in the morning
Travelled in a ST bus
40 kilometres, to the town jail
To bail the peacock

I found
The peacock with six washerwomen
In the male part of the prison

The FIR said
The peacock is dangerous
He was found with a knife; and he could throw
Whiskey bottles

The peacock said
The whiskey bottles were targetted at the whiskey-bottle gang
Who were teasing the washer-women
That bathe in our river

I asked the policeman to be reasonable
How can a peacock wield a knife or a whiskey bottle
The policeman asked: is this peacock your pet?
Or a local gangster?

When we were discharged
En route home
The peacock was cross with me
He preferred the comforts of a jail
With its air conditioner, fridge and a DVD player
That played the same Hindi film songs
Day in and night out

My 35th encounter with the peacock

We spotted
A peacock pantry
In the tall grass
Near the shallow stream

Rs 10 - Baked corn
Rs 8 - Roses
Rs 7- Lizards and frogs
Rs 5 - Bugs, flower petals, bananas
Rs 5 - Bread crumbs, cheese, rice, and even styrofoam pellets

Non-veg meals - Rs 40
Veg meals - Rs 30
Taxes extra
Which included baby cobras

I abstained from lunch
Which the peacock packed, promptly

My 34th encounter with the peacock

Book my air tickets
I plan to travel to the Congo basin
In Africa
Said the peacock to me

His cousin, the Afropavo Congensis
Was getting married
What should I gift him for dowry?
Asked the peacock to me

My 33rd encounter with the peacock

Can peacocks dream
I don't know, I replied
When the peacock asked me this question
I looked up from the newspaper
That reported how Charles Ingabire
An online editor
Was shot dead in Kampala

That night I dreamt
Three mini dreams

1.
The peacock
Entering Zara Zara
Purchases a trench coat and parkas
To cover his nakedness


2.
The peacock visiting
Montparnasse Cemetery
Points out Beckett's grave
Such a lot of fuss over the dead
He says

What are those?
Tombstones to lock the dead
He asks
What if I fly away
That's why the Hindus burn their dead
On a wooden pyre with ghee


3.
The peacock is tried in a court
By a Hutu and a Tutsu
In Kigali
For being a peacock