I was that child
being pushed in the little red swing
built by my grandfather
up high
enough so that my toes
touched the leaves
of his knoll’s
crab apple tree
Astro, Astro Jasper Cosmo
died this morning
asleep in the green kitchen chair —
He had a spasm
and lolled His head
through the wrought iron arm
and was gone
That Fast:
My Cuddily Buddily
Big Black
Super Cat
Tonight Eye drove
along a band of gold
lining the West
below a dense sky
Eye drove
to pick up Eliza
working in The Coast Guard —
I stood on the deck
of her 50 foot cutter
to look at the sun
but it was gone
and so was the band —
dispersed cloud
faint pink
accompanied us home
My lovely daughter Eliza
thinks Eye should take my art down
and repaint over my graffiti
in the livingroom and bedroom —
butt Eye like my graffiti
it doesn’t bother me
and Eye like my art
it fosters me.
Eliza thinks Eye should have dinner parties
and a garden
and Cousin Carol with the voice of reason
thinks Eye should have old people
over for tea
in a graffiti-less house
in a relaxing house
uncluttered by art.
My daughter thinks my house
is a microcosm of my life
butt Eye see my house
as a reflection of me —
besides, my lovely friend Darlene Louisa
likes my house
plastered with my work
and hers.
My life with Dr Blair is over
& what have I moved into?
Tales of Miss Winfield
the raven-haired beauty
who looks like Snow White
caught off guard
under the hands of a janitor
while she wore dresses from Reitman’s
as a teacher’s aide —
She quit her job
and went into a decline
rather than tell on him
and was brought down too
by a user boyfriend
who told her he would buy a ring
but never did —
Mature & married now
with two grown sons
her hair is salt & pepper
under a layer of dye
and she listens to her friends
one a hair dresser
and one who’s me
Eye see no silver today
Dripping its way across
My lonely ocean
Of calm contemplation
If Eye have one question
for my X Dr Blair
It’s why did he let his enraged wife in
to My House 23 years ago
to find me naked on the bed
while he held her back
and offering nothing to cover me
said into her right ear:
“TAKE A LOOK”
??
Eye am dressed all wrong
For today when my X called
2 call me harsh names
Sitting illuminated
by the Frost Park Fountain
3-tiered and glittering
Eye wait for my daughter Eliza
to finish her motorcycle course–
I’m in Yarmouth
on the Western Edge of The Province
facing West
with the sun trickling
through a curtain
of man-made rain
Dr Blair wrote to me
that he loved my toes —
what about the rest of me?
Where is he now?
And whose toes is he after
23 years later?
Joanna Gilman Hyde 