‘What Form’ by Natalie Marino

What Form

 It took me forty-five years 
to really look in the mirror.

I am just now able to stand 
myself.  Wearing yellow  

I am a loud sun, 
a city burning. I wonder 

in what form I might live 
forever. I want to walk 

to the corner store 
and meet my husband 

for the first time again.
I want to let him see me 

monstrous and beautiful, 
now that I am unafraid of light.


          

Natalie Marino is a poet and practicing physician. Her work appears in Heavy Feather Review, Pleiades, Rust & Moth, 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.