MY FIRST HUSBAND

by Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:15pm

When My First Husband told Me

He Loved Me

I wore a floral summer dress

to receive My Canadian Citizenship

He was renting a room

outside of Halifax

for a movie job

— He was a Master Carpenter —

I stayed the night with Him

— brought The Children —

in the sparse house of a Scientologist

— the only books were Scientology —

in the dark, quietly

with Eliza in Her portable crib

& Peak on a spare bed

I heard “I Love You”

in My Left Ear