Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Jamaal May

WATER DEVIL

WATER DEVIL

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.
Close

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.

WATER DEVIL

Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère