See This Ring?
It doesn’t matter what It cost —
Eye bought It for My Birthday
Years and Years ago
to signify my “attachment”
to The Little Man
Eye say Eye have been in love with
for nearly three decades.
See This Diamond?
It houses a pie-shaped Inclusion
to signify Its Uniqueness
and Eye wear it upon my left ring finger
Now and Then
to signify my endless heart’s time.
Fog has obscured
My Cape Light
My Fast & True
Steadily Flashing
Like A Multi-carat Diamond
Against My Window Sill
My Bedroom Delight
there is nothing out there now
butt a dark haze
Ready to glow with the coming dawn
Ready to signal My Rising
And As Eye linger
Over My Writing
A Neighbour’s Headlights Drive Out
Illuminating Slowly
My Drenched Window
My Dripping Window
Eye have embarked on selling
My Mother’s book
McNutt’s Island Journal
wherever Eye can
and found today that
Eye could even sell
at Canadian Tire in Yarmouth
after which Eye went out
to a favourite restaurant
understaffed
where Eye ordered seafood fettuccine
with homemade noodles
which took over one hour to prepare
Eye didn’t mind
glancing at a dwarf mother
and her dwarf tot
Eye smiled because
She was waiting too
having a good time
at a large table
with men and other children
while the man Eye was with
grew impatient
and wanted to leave
and didn’t even ask
if Eye wanted dessert
My name really isn’t
Snow White — I just
feel like her
having escaped not from
a wicked step-mother
but from a treacherous second marriage
into the sanctuary of my own home
with 5 cats
leftover from that faulty union
which left me not one
sentiment
so I clean the litter
morning and night
and feed the children
Molly, Jerome, Cami, Moulan & Astro
trying to pet each one
every day
at least
On St. Patrick’s Day
or thereabouts
a friend and I
got fooled by two goose decoys
bobbing in the pond
down by The Hawk Beach
Days later I saw one real live goose
stride into the pond
to float beside his fake friends
and I thought to write a poem
about The Lonely Goose
until today, April 5th
when I walked down to the pond
to see if he was still there
accompanied by his plastic companions
and lo & behold
he was there with another
real live mate
who swivelled its head
and glided through the water
to form The Pair
in living flesh and feathers
beside the two pretenders
Haunted by the utterance
of M(eye) 2nd Husband
“Cozy In My Bed”
was all He wanted
as M(eye) Daughter lies beneath
a faded pink cotton blanket
probably bought from Sears
She said it smelled like bleach
and She was comfortable
so comfortable
while Eye lie beneath
The Portrait of Darkness
M(eye) Greatest (and only) Figure Painting
with The Light of The Cape Light
Shining, Blinking, into My Room
Our Bedrooms are Our Sanctity
Please Don’t Mess With Them…
Eye had a dream
in M(eye) Reality
of being brought to Life
by the touch of a furry hand
You could say
it was The Beast
butt to me
it was Life Itself
and it awakened me
from the depths of slumber
into the grey of dawn
and into my day
of wonder
Who was that impetuous child
Who climed into The Cat Box
and sprayed out galaxy after galaxy
for me to clean up?
Who was that Blue-blooded Boy
with a thatch of black hair
Who scampered about in M(eye) Mind
while Eye imagined The Divine Family
forever kept in check
by M(eye) Master Climax?
He played in M(eye) House
for days it seemed
while Eye couldn’t sleep
and dreamed instead
of The Future of Mankind —
Where did He go?
What is He up to now?
Eye have just two
paper weights sitting on the sill
of M(eye) picture window:
on the left is a pink jelly fish
encased in oblong glass
heavy enough to kill somebody
a gift Eye bought for M(eye) Daughter Eliza
when She turned 16.
The right holds a storm of silver
encased in bulbous crystal
with a bit of blue at the bottom
bestowed upon Me by Eliza’s Mother-in-law
when She graced Me with the choice
to take any one of Her collection
as long as Eye didn’t take the weight
given to Her by Her Father
Eye own an apple
only it’s dead —
completely dead now
butt it is the only tree Eye own
Eye will not cut it down
from M(eye) Backyard
where this morning
a red-headed bird
landed on it
at 9:11
Joanna Gilman Hyde 