Mandala

by Maryann Hurtt


when she was little
she understood her eyes
to be green
because of deep down
in her heart love
of sequoias, magnolias
the front yard maple
and the boy who teased her
a kind of gray
he seemed to do fine
on rainy days
a forever best friend’s eyes
were blue
she was a sky dreamer
now so many years later
she finds all the colors
in a mandala
held inside her
an entire universe
holy and sacred

                                               
* * * * *

After thirty years working as a hospice RN, Maryann Hurtt is now retired and has energy to
pursue new and ongoing loves. She lives in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine where she hikes, bikes,
writes, reads, and then wanders unfamiliar places. Turning Plow Press published Once Upon a
Tar Creek Mining for Voices in 2021. Tar Creek has been called “the worst environmental
disaster no one has heard of.” She is passionate that Tar Creek’s orange water stories are heard
and heeded. Broken Blossoms (Fernwood Press) is coming out in 2024.