Inferno Poem

Takes its cue from just a few sinister
lines that had come before. There’s the fire,
with flames that leap and snatch. Then there’s brimstone,
burning coals, hot lava to sear the souls
and the bottoms of the feet, which cause rhymes
to melt into magma heaps. The piling
up of similes for pain, metaphors
settling old neglected scores. Blind-sided,
gob-smacked, all those thrown stones and broken bones.
Onomatopoeia with its splat, sizzle, buzz, puff of stuff
bulked up on steroids. And that devilish,
diabolical demon, fallen angel,
pitch-forked, horn-crowned, frowning down from his high
seat and stirring this poet to a boil.

*italicized words are the examples John Drury assigns to
“Onamatopeia” in The Poetry Dictionary.