Nancy Mitchell

Mother, At Last

You were Scarlett O’Hara
swooned in Rhett’s arms

in that scene you played over
and over towards the end

when he carries his bride
up the stairs to the four-poster

bed where under the white
lace canopy he’d have his way

with her when the orderly swept
you from the hospital

bed to the gurney and whisked
you away, wheels whispering gone.

Author: Nancy Mitchell

Nancy Mitchell is a 2012 Pushcart Prize winner and the author of The Near Surround, Grief Hut and the The Out-of- Body Shop. She teaches at Salisbury University in Maryland and serves as Associate Editor of Special Features for Plume. She is the Poet Laureate of the City of Salisbury, Maryland.

Plume: Issue #148 December 2023