Joanna Gilman Hyde

February 9th The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:58pm

The Internet is down

with a Red Exclamation Mark

notifying This Account

of no connection

I am connected

I am tuned in

on My Island attached

by a flooded causeway

to the rest of The Province

to the rest of The World

I could be, am I?

That Server

–

February 10th The Hawk Corner Room Noon

Can You make a poem

out of a News Report

of an eleven-year-old Boy

killed by carbon monoxide poisoning

while a Father shovelled snow

a Son kept warm

by an idling engine?

–

1:00pm

I could be that Determined Girl

Who shut Her Self in Her Room

stared at Her Self in Her Dresser Mirror

until The Glaring Face

moulded It Self into distorted patches

of brooding dark hues

I could have a lock-in

a lock-down

with the radio on for music

but not for News