Joanna Gilman Hyde

Those long-necked

Ladies of Leisure

Drop dead

On queen-size bed spreads

Leaving us

Their husbands

Their cigarettes

As Eye sit

at McDonalds again

to wait for the shadow

of the roofline

to chase me away —

it’s here!

Good bye Beach

Eye will not even go to you

to say good bye —

I have loved you so

as you have soothed me

to no end but for the ending now —

I have transitioned into My New Life

to move away

to Thunder Bay

where I will carry you

in my heart

and know your rythms

to be my own.

Good bye Scraggly Apple

You hold 2 sprigs of life

but that is not why I’ve kept you:

You are beautiful in your death pose

and the birds I’ve loved

are your visitors.

I will miss you, maybe

on a rainy day

when I write from my new abode

in Thunder Bay

far away

from my backyard

friend.

Good bye house

Eye have been with you for ten years

You have served me well

I have found my voice

within your walls

and from you I have gazed

at the sea.

Eye will be leaving you now

for Thunder Bay

and my beautiful daughter Eliza

whose growing up I missed

even when she was here

with you for a delicate

frame of time.

Wherever Eye go now

Eye am saying Good Bye:

My daughter Eliza has invited me

to live in Thunder Bay —

she says there’s no rush

but for me there is —

Eye am no longer happy

in Nova Scotia —

my home Eye considered

since childhood.

Headed for My New Life

with my daughter Eye love

Eye will find My New Self

on the shore of Lake Superior

amongst the family of Eliza’s partner

Jonathan

Eye stand before the silver sheen

at my horizon of my dream

I ask myself about my life

and why I couldn’t be a wife —

The answer comes as if to say

You’ve had your gain

there is no pay —

God is God

Life is Life

continue on

within your strife

Today in the mail

Eye got a Divorce Certificate

dated July 22nd

(my lucky number)

butt now I don’t want

to go back to my house alone

and so I eek out the last of the sun

here at McDonald’s

Am Eye becoming

a fixture at McDonald’s?

I’ve consumed four large decafs

so far this morning

and now it’s lunchtime.

But the day is fine

with my back to the sun

and I am enjoying being

here amongst the vibrancy

of Barrington Bay.