Poetry

flickr photo

By

Maryann Hurtt

Hummus and Hot Dogs

when he crosses the bridge

wave at him

better still meet him

in the middle

where the common ground

of your footsteps

will lead both of you

to new land

where no one is foreign

and home

has many rooms

in the kitchen corner

the dictionary scratches out

alien, illegal, stranger

the stove cooks up

hummus and hot dogs

(bratwurst on Thursdays)

No More Mr. Nice Bear

I know you heard my story

how a big old fire

took out my mother

and me all singed paws

and fur

got sent to Washington

the NATIONAL zoo

quite the celebrity I became

folks sending me honey

a song sung around a thousand campfires

how I, Smokey, could sniff the air

find a fire

before it starts to flame

I got to tell you

this living in the zoo

wasn’t all it was cracked up to be

but there I was smack

in the middle of the capital

of the whole US of A

and I always had myself

a good pair of ears

you think I’m gone now

just my picture coming into towns

fire warnings

low, medium, high

but here’s the deal

I still got power

and this playing with fire

better give you pause

’cause my adopted city

is ready to blow up

and this fire shows no favors

and we are all going

to burn

and yes, I will haunt you

the rest of your days

Maryann Hurtt

After thirty years working as a hospice nurse, Maryann Hurtt is now retired and still finds herself defining and redefining hope and resiliency. She grew up singing “Smokey the Bear” and listening to her father read John Muir bedtime stories. Hiking or snowshoeing almost daily on the Ice Age Trail keeps her at least partially balanced. Aldrich Press published her chapbook, River, in 2016 and she recently finished a manuscript, Once Upon a Tar Creek: Mining for Voices that takes place in Oklahoma where the water is orange.