September 2020
Maryann Hurtt
mhurttds@excel.net
Bio Note: Running on Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine trails back in May, I slipped through a hatching of dragonflies...hundreds and hundreds of them. A true dazzle when the next day, George Floyd was murdered. I struggle with reconciling the beauty of this world with border walls, a pandemic, school shootings, and injustice screaming in my other ear. I was a hospice nurse most of my life and my chapbook, River, celebrates resiliency in the face of hard times.

"How Do I Write About Dragons and Dazzles
On a Day the World Is On Fire"

1.
Tripping the Light Fantastic 

surrounded by tiny wings
I trot my way through roots and rocks
my feet believe in flight
think I might in another life
become iridescence
but for now
a dazzle of beginnings
is enough this May day dawn
when our broken world dreams
transformation
and I dance with the dragons

2.
Phoenix

on a day when I write
a dazzle of dragonflies
and dream of iridescence
I wake to feel the scald
of a world in blazes
hear screams howl
I can't breathe
and know right now
it is time for me
and all my dragon brothers and sisters
to dance in flames and fury
our souls burn in the ashes
ready to fly again

Thurston High School, 6am
twenty years after the shooting 

crows crackle-caw
their early morning chatter
cruise the football field
stare down
like animated drones
they watch everything
maybe they carry
pieces of the wounded
whole souls of those lost and gone
they understand they can't change everything
but at least hope to witness
this start of day
still full of promise
©2020 Maryann Hurtt
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