Sky as Smoke

after Mark Strand

Remembering the summer—
how it had been a blown-up
balloon with bursts of hot
yellow air, how the dry day
lilies were limp in their delayed
nodding—we are grateful
for a song of solitude
when the first rain comes
from the white air of winter [1].
Then we see the news while we make
dinner: swollen brown flood waters
on the television, the story of a woman
and her five-year-old boy [2].
He said everything would be ok. She got out
of her stuck SUV when she didn’t know
what to do. He slipped right through
her fingers.

[1] “I sway in the white air of winter” appears in in Mark Strand’s poem “The Man in the Tree.”

[2] This refers to the story of Kyle Doan, as reported by The Guardian on 1/12/2023.

Natalie Marino is a poet and practicing physician. Her work appears in Hayden Ferry’s Review, Little Patuxent Review, Pleiades, Salt Hill, wildness and elsewhere. She is the author of the chapbook Under Memories of Stars (Finishing Line Press, 2023). She lives in California. You can find her online at nataliemarino.com or on Instagram @natalie_marino.

Published July 15 2025