October 2021
Bio Note: I live in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine where I hike, bike, read, and write. I am a retired RN and am passionate about environmental issues. Once Upon a Tar Creek: Mining for Voices (Turning Plow Press) came out in July 2021. Tar Creek has been called the worst environmental disaster no one has heard of—the water is orange and the lead and zinc mining took place on Quapaw Indian land.
Madonna Lily
Grandmother of old woman shoes and
dull flowered dresses
who are you?
hidden down steep cellar steps
leading to August in jars
but today I smell Madonna lilies
how they stood far
from peas, corn, carrots
the what’s for supper night after night
for men and boys
who only grunted gratitude
but the lilies
a secret life of heady smells
maybe even erotic
only you knew
and how they might burst
in steamy Iowa heat
on a day nobody imagined
Turtle Explains
you might think
this strange
but really I do
read poetry, that is
as e e cummings said,
nobody beautiful ever hurries
I take this seriously
makes me see crevices
tiny puddles
even smell the snails
now you who hurry
miss what I find exquisite
these raindrops
who feed me
the worms who dance
with me
©2021 Maryann Hurtt
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