even monsters and adults
need to be vaccinated
this is ungodly weather
the sun sweats
and the moon was panting yesterday

this is when they had to pour rain
on pilgrims
who are rendered mute
because they have scalded their tongue
with steaming sweetened tea
in yellowed cups

huge red flowers
overflow fetid swamps
to stifle noisy toads
who eat non-poisonous water snakes
and get by

naked brown children
with prodigious bellies
splash about on spindly legs
and chew on crooked sticks
of sugarcane
infested with flies

mosquitoes rise up in clouds
and rule and prosper and multiply