Flowers radiate
with the sun’s teeth
opening
the sky shining
with sleeping
stars’ hopes
and bright red
seeds’ echoes
buried in the dry dirt.
After long nights
in a lonely cabin
I drive my children
through crooked roads
to a high mountain
overlooking
the desert city
and watch them
sled on new snow,
seeing once again
the pink pointed
dawn.

Natalie Marino (she/her) is a poet, physician, and mother. Her work appears in Barren Magazine, Bitter Oleander, Dust Poetry Magazine, and elsewhere. She was named a finalist in Sweet’s 2021 poetry contest. Her micro-chapbook, Attachment Theory was published by Ghost City Press in June 2021. She lives in California.