Breathe!
Inhale the gray, yellow smudge of sky,
Like the smog of rush hours, diesel in the air.
Miles away, the fury of fires flaming up
Against rock, pinon, juniper.
Wildlife afoot, fleeing or trapped
Blue eggs left in the nest.
Homeless now, all of us.
Embers lingering, charcoal ghosts.
—
“Breathe!” is a poem that Annemarie Marek crafted after news reports of the devastating fires in Northern New Mexico, impacting both human life and wildlife. Calming the Wilderness, her first poetry collection, was named a Willa Literary Award finalist by Women Writing the West. Her poem “Three Riffs, One Land” was included in the 2023 New Mexico Poetry Anthology. She is currently completing a poetry chapbook entitled Dichotomies to be released in 2025.
