Ashtray

A flint sparks a
yellow tongue
hissing as it licks
the cigarette tip

scorched tobacco
sizzles ominously
as it takes to
fiendish
malevolent
life

and my ashtray is a
snake charmer's basket
from which
a serpentine stream
of venomous smoke
slithers upward
sensually
seductively
writhing in shades
of ash