Los Diablos

by Cameron Hunt McNabb

Mosquitos teach me patience.
Self-control.
And unmitigated rage.

They are the wages of my sins.

The red life-blood plucked,
Sucked and stolen,
Swollen by their gluttony.

Their vampiric bites turn red to white,
phosphorescent sites
of transgression.

They imprint their mark upon my skin.

But when they whisper in my ear
I strike their heads against the heel
of my hand
And shed the life-blood, now twice-spilled.

Victory.

Cameron Hunt McNabb is an assistant professor of English at a liberal arts university in Florida. A fourth generation Tampa native, much of her work focuses on Florida settings and themes.