COMPORTMENT

by Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Tomato-coloured Couch 9:15pm

We Wear Our Minds Outside Our Selves:

if Our Hair is Frazzled

We have gone miles

in open wind

–

if Our Bellies are Big

We have gorged Ourselves

on Great Ideas

left under The Table

–

if We Smile

Our Contentment

may mean Our Wanderings

have lead Us

to Our Ends

–

if We Laugh

We are revealing

Our Most Primitive Selves

in defiance

of the psychiatric labels

for which We were sent away