by Mark Danowsky
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| Smoke from wildfires in provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada made Philadelphia’s iconic Belmont Plateau skyline nearly invisible on June 7, 2023. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) |
The classic way to
explain asthma
Imagine:
breathing through a straw
Now, picture flipping burgers
on a charcoal grill
Today, that charcoal grill
is the sky
Endless red coals burning
up in Canada
No, Canada is the grill
400+ fires burning
Half of them
Out of control
The smoke has traveled
down to The States
Today, Pennsylvania sky
is an unnatural gray
A gray that embodies
burnt rubber
Now, imagine
that straw in your mouth
Imagine trying to breathe
this burnt rubber air
All this gray
filling your lungs
Cigarette after cigarette
with no reward
Mark Danowsky is Editor-in-Chief of ONE ART: a journal of poetry. He is the author of Meatless (Plan B Press) and other short poetry collections. His poems have been curated in many journals including Alba, The New Verse News, anti-heroin chic, Right Hand Pointing, The Broadkill Review, Otoliths, and Gargoyle.