A daughter spies on her father and his lover. In a dense field of red dots the lover is giggling. Even now, after so many years, the daughter can recall the exact pitch of it. The laughter is constant and hungry and blood red; it bites deeply into her sleep. And when it has consumed every one of her dreams she lies sleepless. And when she can bear it no longer she paints polka dot after polka dot on the bridal veil of night.

pitch black
the hand cranked girl
comes to life

Alan Peat & Réka Nyitrai

An ekphrastic haibun based on Yayoi Kusama’s paintings ‘Dots Obsession’ (2003) and ‘Woman in the Wind’ (1977)