Water Devil

Spout of a leaf,

listen out for the screams

of your relentless audience:

the applause of a waterfall

in the distance,

a hurricane looting

a Miami shopping mall.

How careful you are

with the rain-cradling

curve of your back.

Near your forest,

all are ready to swim

and happy to drown

in me: this lake of fire

that moats the edges.

From my mouth,

they come to peel the flames

and drink their slick throats

into the most silent

of ashes.