Smitten

by Maryann Hurtt


my mother was crazy
about flea-bane
the tiny daisy but not really a daisy
flower I see on my hike today
it's end of July hot
and I wait for sweet berries
listen, all these pieces
do fit together
the way strawberries
the wild ones
picked themselves
into her palm
and the flea-bane
made her drop down
to caress their miniature lives
I believe she knew their language
small talk really
but her heart savvy
in the how and why and where


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Now retired after working thirty years as a hospice RN, Maryann Hurtt listened to a thousand stories of resiliency, pain, joy, and sorrow. Her poetry reflects many of the stories. Verse-Virtual, Gyroscope Review, Moss Piglet, and Anti-Heroin Chic recently published her work. Once Upon a Tar Creek Mining for Voices (Turning Plow Press) came out 2021. Tar Creek has been called “the worst environmental disaster no one has heard of.” Hurtt is determined its legacy is remembered and heeded.