A random guy in another part of the country contacted me last week after googling the Chinook Bookshop, a beloved Colorado Springs institution that closed in 2004, and stumbling across one of my old blog posts. He asked if I could find an old bookmark from the store and transcribe the poem on it for him. After some digging I was able to find one. It was certainly well used and well loved! I thought it'd be nice to share a picture of it here, since so many residents of this city still heartily mourn the loss of the Chinook Bookshop. And here is the poem inscribed upon the bookmark:
"The warm wind kept blowing
...like a low chant from the land
or like the flurry of far wings...
lapping up the snow...
until the whole body of earth
lay brown and breathing
except for the topknots of buttes
and, away and away,
the high float of mountains...
Chinook...
Promise of Spring."
The poem is attributed to A.B. Guthrie, Jr., from These Thousand Hills.
Have a wonderful day, everyone! Tamera
5 comments:
I remember hanging out in the play house at Chinook's as a child (50 years ago!). So sad it is gone! I'll have to dig out a book mark myself.
Quite a good book mark to hold onto.
I hate when a good bookstore closes. Hold on to that one.
I have several of those bookmarks from my childhood.
In the Guthrie book it isn't actually a poem, though it's certainly poetic; see the original passage here:
https://books.google.com/books?id=ff2htDjG35cC&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22The+warm+wind+kept+blowing,+the+dry+wind+out+of+the+southwest%22&source=bl&ots=OHHib8m3ER&sig=4M4-teKgVg4XkH9OX5H0Dh4ppkA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWscPx_IbUAhVLw4MKHWTzCPsQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22The%20warm%20wind%20kept%20blowing%2C%20the%20dry%20wind%20out%20of%20the%20southwest%22&f=false
The line about Chinook being the "Promise of spring" shows up on the following page. On the bookmark they condensed and arranged the passage into a poem.
Roderick, thanks so much for adding to the conversation! I never knew that the poem wasn't actually a poem at all but excerpted from a novel. Fascinating! Your comment is appreciated! Tamera
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