The Experience of Smoke

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You can’t see across the field.
The smoke has fallen like a haze
and looks like it from indoors.
But outside, your nose knows
instantly, and soon you taste it.
The smoke becomes weirdly thick
thick in the mouth, makes one
want to brush your teeth—fast—
like smokey coffee or a sand
too fine to chew. You know
right away that you shouldn’t run.
Biking and hiking are unwise.
It’s even not great to fish.
So we stay in our cages—
air filters humming, if you
have them, and that constant
silent noise—staring out the window
as if nothing happened at all,
as the world nearby burns.
Anthony Signorelli