The Hawk Portico 10:22pm
My Guess Is That Cats
Worry The Birds
At Nesting Time
Much Like Predatory Governments
The World Over
Disturb The Population
Of People Trying
To Make A Living
(And I Don’t Mean To Paint Cats Black)
Barrington Passage 5:30pm
My Grandmother on My Mother’s side
was from Birmingham, Alabama
and told me this riddle when I was little:
“What’s the difference between
a piece of watermelon
and a sweet pea?”
Answer: “About fifteen minutes.”
The Hawk Portico 1:33pm
My Silver Spears, Swords
have armed Me
against the upheaval
of The World Economy
against The Super Bugs
of Hospital Rooms
& They have enabled Me
to sing out Their Praises
in The Enclosure
of My
Edge
The Hawk Portico 6:25pm
When The Waves
At The Back
Have Accompanied Me
Through Midday,
Simmering Down By Evening,
I Come To The Front
To The Hawk Portico
Where I Can Turn My Ear
To A New Batch
The Hawk Deck 1:15pm
I Hear My Private World
squawking with an unidentified bird
atop the scraggly apple
waves resounding
just beyond the scrub spruce
the hedge is here, fluttering
with My Laundry on the line
& cats coming & going
from the shaded back deck
The Hawk Kitchen 9:15pm
I See A World
in the misty coatings
of My Glass Table Top
out on the evening deck —
I see gradations
of condensation
spelling out layers
of murky growth
surrounding the beginnings
of a smattering of continents
in The East
& a blurred
wash of fog
in The West
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:45pm
I live in a place
where all the vehicles
are the colour of angels
& license plates signal Me
I’m wearing white shorts
& Silver jewellery
sitting on My Tomato-coloured Couch
listening to 90’s on 9
listening to the decade
of My hospitalizations
where I didn’t read
just wrote & talked
much like Now
except Now
I want to Live
Barrington Passage 3:50pm
My Private God
is Public Now
ANYBODY CAN SEE HER —
The Beautiful Dark Haired Woman
with An Orange Blossom
at Her Left Ear
She came to Me
after a fight with The Big Guy
Who was trying to get Me
to serve Him:
I declared to Him
“I will not serve God —
I will NOT — I will
serve only My Self!”
& then I realized I was
THE MOST SELF-ISH PERSON
IN THE WORLD —
to be called to serve God
& to REFUSE
only to serve My Self?
And that’s when My Own God appeared —
Her Beautiful Dark Head
protruded from My Right Shoulder
as if I had two heads
She spoke the most melodious words
I had ever heard —
ANYBODY CAN HEAR HER:
“You know The Meaning Of Life
and so You are a Star,
so go to sleep”
The Hawk Deck 1:15pm
I am on The Verge
of Something Big
drinking from The Cup of Life
watching rustling leaves
along The Hedge
with fog wafting past
opening out to Me
the interwoven
sustenance
of calling birds
& One
Steady
Fog
Horn
Joanna Gilman Hyde 