Mrs Blair eats
Her rib-splitting bowl of spaghetti
while awaiting the return
of Dr Blair
and imagines Her Self
attending The Outdoor Concert
of all women singers
in Lockeport, Nova Scotia
next weekend
A Canadian Maple Leaf
is A Star
RED STAR
undulating
Above The Blue Horizon
How incongruous that I should hear
The Jays of Valley Cottage
Here on Cape Sable Island
where I am so far removed
from My Growing Up–
or aren’t I still growing?
Here I feel I Have Arrived–
My Destiny has been laid out
on My Grandmother’s Silver Tray
on display atop
My Mother’s Mahogany Drop-leaf Table
Here in My Hawk Living Room
Sitting on My Deck
In My Red Deck Chair
I Have The Sheets on The Line
& The World in My Lap
I Can Hear The Surf
& See The Blue Horizon
Hazed Over
Like My Open Globe
“What’s a Woman like You
doing in a Place like This?”
–Camera View: from back of black oven
w/ Woman looking in
leaning on elbows
–View to rivet My eight-year-old frame:
Black w/ White Star Spatter
How am I Here in this Black Space?
Now white with tomato spatter
from Eliza
in The Microwave
Today is Hot for Nova Scotia
–I know It and You know It–
I’m not making more of It
when a humid trip to get the mail
presents The Ethereal Delight:
A Pair of American Gold Finches
splashing, dipping & shaking off
Together in a roadside puddle
Here I sit to watch
The Vertical Drizzle
outside the confines of The Portico
with The Waves
through The Rain
to watch A Cat
return
before My Naturally Bleach-Blond Daughter
emerges to ask
why I’m sitting in the rain
& If Her Perfect Make Up
is
OK
for
Poker
My Graffiti Years
may have begun
when I was a hospital patient
supposedly recovering at home
while My Father visited
& drove Me scheming
to emblazon each of The Town’s public mirrors
with one Gold Emblem
each with the word “God” inscribed
to describe the reflected viewer
Maybe I Should I Have Used Silver Stickers?
Joanna Gilman Hyde 