Flood Patterns

by Jessica Gigot

The poems in Jessica Gigot’s Flood Patterns vividly depict a lowland place and its people in the farthest northwest corner of the country. As Kevin Craft writes, “The poems are informed by the determined if contested optimism of someone who knows the ground she walks on and its potential to yield both bounty and treachery.” And this from Jeanne Murray Walker: “In this debut collection, Jessica Gigot, farmer, scientist, and poet, writes about her territory, the Skagit River Valley. Her poetry is plainspoken, restrained, and entirely believable. Bypassing the ecstatic, she reveals a land and its species that are both threatened and provisional. The cover artwork, Estuary Farm, was provided by Skagit artist Kris Ekstrand.

Purchase: Antrim House

Praise for Flood Patterns:

The poems [in Flood Patterns] are informed by the determined if contested optimism of someone who knows the ground she walks on and its potential to yield both bounty and treachery. We discover the perishable joys and stubborn sadnesses of farm life, family life, writing life, even as each poem edges through unpredictable weather to unearth a hopeful patience, resilient and alert. Like rocks in a tumbler, these poems release “rhythm and rage / From their time at sea,” emerging with the luster of hard-won truth.

Kevin Craft, author of Vagrants & Accidentals and Solar Prominence

In this debut collection, Jessica Gigot, farmer, scientist, and poet, writes about her territory, the Skagit River Valley. Her poetry is plainspoken, restrained, and entirely believable. Bypassing the ecstatic, she reveals a land and its species that are both threatened and provisional. Nevertheless, these poems rejoice in a quiet beauty that exceeds what is merely necessary for existence. As Gigot reminds us, “A fire breathes beneath the cold.” 

Jeanne Murray Walker, author of Pilgrim, You Find the Path by Walking and Helping The Morning

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