Page 82 - WTP VOl. X #3

caRoL haMiLton
Stitchery
Each work, one above the other on my wall,
based in black, the lower piece by Muslim women
in Jordan, the other by Kuna tribal artists of Panama, all colors in the one sewn in perfectly placed threads,
rows of abstract flowers and leaves in red touched here and there with brighter colors, one mistake of needle hidden, which I will never find,
done to show that only Allah is perfect,
the other’s colors formed from layers
of bright cloth cut through and bound
with tiny stitches to let show the brilliant gills and fins and eyes and even mouths with teeth,
fish from their sea. In what ancient day
was such patient precision learned and with what elemental tools? Not once have I ever created
an act or an hour or even a hope of such value
to leave behind me and certainly no such treasure to be sold at some market table
to a tourist looking for a gift of great worth
which will cost next to nothing.
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Hamilton is a former Poet Laureate of Oklahoma, and a retired educator whose career included both elementary and college- level teaching. She’s the author of seventeen books, including children’s novels and poetry. Among her literary honors are a Southwest Book Award, an Oklahoma Book Award, the David Ray Poetry Prize, the Warren Keith Poetry Award, and a Chiron Review Chapbook Award. Her work has previously appeared in WTP Vol. IX #3.