Stonecoast Review
The Literary Journal of the Stonecoast MFA
Why I Became a Physician
By Natalie Marino
Because there were no magpies
in the ark.
Because there was nothing new
at the zoo.
Because the iris I held wilted
in September.
Because I was one for sorrow
and lonely as a lark.
Because in the end
my mother was as tender
as the moon.
Because I couldn’t shake the sky
of its stars.
Because being brave was easy
when I believed it didn’t matter
if I lived or died.
Because I was searching
for those who knew how to suffer.
Because staying awake was simpler
than going back
to my own house full of grief.
Natalie Marino is a poet and physician. Her work appears in Pleiades, Rust & Moth, Salt Hill, South Florida Poetry Journal 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.
This poem originally appeared in Stonecoast Review Issue 21.
Photo by Martin Adams
