Pele
By Paul Cameron Brown
1
The night before ...
sultry Martinique, a
tortoise shell cat
climbed, lap to pipe,
amid curbs of orange smoke.
2
Mount Pele, a
smoking hard hat
with the candle-wax of longing
gutting in paraffin for
30,000 souls sent to the Crematorium
her harbour hissing
lava foam;
even coffee beans fused into
other metal bits, a
danse macabre twittering machine,
(nature au contraire),
tortoise shell improviso with
splotched colours weaving dawn's light
& feline crouching.
3
- the curl of her island's paws
lanced in heat,
brief wisps tugging Pele's
synopsis (dark & smouldering), with
cat eyes glowing
up the mountain dark
into vegetative whiskers.
4
Pull of my pipe full leap of centuries
before the bite of the stem
dumped fire again