Friday, June 09, 2023

GRAY HAZE

by Mark Danowsky


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