Two Peonies

by Pia Taavila

A crystal vase,
slender leaves.

Heads heavy on
tendril stalks,
two peonies bloom,
their fluted edges
flail, vivid, white.
Stark pink centers
billow, their yellow pistils
protrude.

Pia Taavila, Professor of English at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, is the author of the newly-published Moon on the Meadow. Her poems have appeared in The Threepenny Review, The Comstock Review, Appalachian Heritage, The Southern Review and qarrtsiluni, among others. She lives in Fredericksburg, VA with her family and just completed a residency at The Vermont Studio Center (March, 2008).