Joanna Gilman Hyde

Eye stood beside My Pretty Pictures

next to tables spread with candy apples

caramel apples

decorated cookies on sticks

to see the crowd of parents

with their children in strollers

with a sleeping baby dressed

in a lobster suit

with teenage girls on parade

and a kid with his father’s airbrushed tattoo

of double cat claws

against his right shoulder

Two strollers held little happy people

holding lollipops

and Eye watched the tiny fists collide

as both raised their arms in delight

to thrust their emblems forward

35 years ago

Bill N. Lacy* gave Me a box —

a little wooden box, black and green —

telling Me It was for My Dreams.

“It’s to keep Your Dreams in”

He said as He opened It —

When I was married to The Father

of My Children

I gave It away

as the only Birthday Present I had

to a beautiful dark haired girl

named Leah, Whose Mother

just bought a lottery ticket

on My Donated Paintings

and gave Me a hug.

*President of Cooper Union when I graduated in 1983

M(Eye) Life Is Tied

Between 2 Men

Doctors 2 Be Exact —

One Is M(Eye) 2nd Husband

Who Turns Me On

When He Takes Me For A Drive

And The Other Owns M(Eye) Heart —

He Merely Breathes & Eye’m Alive

Last July Eye filed a complaint

with The Nova Scotia College

of Physicians and Surgeons

indicating My Husband

was having An Affair

with a 43 year old patient

and so to get out of It

Dr. Blair bribed Me

to withdraw the complaint

— which Eye did with a lie —

and rewarded Me One Night

at Digby Pines

— and Oh What A Night It Was —

In August

Eye removed Her Hair

from His Cottage

demanding The Affair be over

— He swore that It was —

but by December 21st

— after a very rocky fall —

Dr. Blair was back at It —

He’s been with Her ever since

and Eye have been left

alone

still married

as this year’s June

approaches

And When Eye Become

WORLD FAMOUS

M(Eye) Voice Will Be Heard

And M(Eye) Body

Which Is M(Eye) Mind

Will Be Seen

My Mother was what’s called

A Cute Chick

little and headstrong

blonde and quirky

She lived alone on an island

and expected Her Guests

to be as charmed by Her Play House

as She was

even when They had to use

The 3-holer Privy

and brush Their Teeth

with one glass of water.

She never got old

struck down by a brain tumour

at age 57

and turned into A Chickadee

when She died.

The Source of M(Eye) Empowerment

is The Shower of Silver Lights

— All Their Glorious Spears —

Manufactured for This World’s Delight

inside M(Eye) Mind

to be seen Externally:

M(Eye) Human Production

of The Notion of God

Last Evening in The Sun

Eye visited Mrs. Atwood

and She had on

A Dress

of classic 30’s design:

Poka Dotted Black

against a delicate yellowed knit

w/ pleated skirt

below an elongated waist.

She looked demure

reclining in Her Rocker

eating a vaniĺla cream cookie

Carefully

while Her Little Glass of Pepsi

Popped Its Lit-up Fizz

Against Her Sun-filled Window.

Eye See M(Eye) Double Sun

Of Silver

Out There, Over

The Ocean

Signalling 2 Me

The Ever-present Past

Along W/ M(Eye) Future

Of Glory Yet Unknown

Eye examine The Line

of Sky @ M(Eye) Horizon

outfitted by more than a bank

of Cloud

The Streak of Light

is M(Eye) Streak

and I’ll be alright

inside The Dawn

of Today