Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:30pm

I married Him under apple boughs

on The Island of My Mother

and when She died

six years later

I would love another

–

I went to see Our Marital House

to see Eliza there

to deliver dishcloths

She was wanting

to see how She had cared

enough to put a sprig of apple

in a bottle neck deep and red

It glowed upon a kitchen sill

I have nothing left to dread

no more hurting husbands

no more dying pets

I am free now

in My Life

even to forget