from Hometown (Over and Over)

The starchy yarn of spring came
and knitted itself into a blue hyacinth
then unraveled that
and tatted itself into a columbine
then snipped it up
coated it in paste
and spread itself out to make a sky
but cut a small patch
to suggest a doorway
and gave the tiny remnant
to a little girl who
walked about the town below
opening and closing
the little blue door.

* * *

Remind me,
what was our tithe?                                                                                                                         The peony flowers.
What were our jewels?                                                                                                                   The peony buds.
What was our relief?                                                                                                                       The peony shoots.
Who kept watch for us?                                                                                                                 The peony roots,                                                                                                                       set so shallow                                                                                                                           the eyes could nearly see.

“Hometown (Over and Over)” is reprinted from Woodnote (Bear Star Press, 2011).

Christine Deavel is co-owner of Open Books, a poetry-only bookstore in Seattle, and has worked as a bookseller for over two decades. Her collection Woodnote received the Dorothy Brunsman Prize from Bear Star Press in 2011 and the Washington State Book Award for Poetry in 2012.