I have been having a terrible time with the poem titled “MINE” — also temporarily titled “ENTRENCHMENT” — and I have made numerous changes throughout this afternoon while working on it. I would appreciate any opinions on this version or earlier ones, if you have the time to consider it/them. Maybe it’s not one of my better ones?
Thank you very much,
Joanna
The Tomato-coloured Couch 2:37pm
God is sitting above
a sky-black plate
eating Her bagel sandwich
dropping an array of crumbs
on the outcropping
of The Cosmos
The Hawk Portico 6:00pm
I have shed The Cloak
of Both My Parents
and That Which I shared with My Brother
Who would have been 51 today*
–
I am The Sole Survivor
of That Family
The Family I was born headlong into —
My “Old” Family —
as I have wrapped My Self anew
within Hunter, My Grown Children
and 7 Cats
*My brother Howard Talbot Walden Hyde was killed November 22, 2007, while in custody. His death prompted the three-year Hyde Inquiry which found his death to be accidental due to restraint by jail guards — namely one Henwood.
The Hawk Portico 2:00pm
I have the luxury of gazing
out over the azure blue
of The Atlantic Ocean
of listening to The Gulls and Crows
for Whom I must be some small part
of Their World
as They are such a large part
of Mine
The Hawk Deck 9:57am
Were I to lose My Eyesight
could I still see The Patches Of Colour
The Sparkly Lights
I’m free to see now
whenever I close My Eyes
or would I be immersed in Pitch Blackness
& what does Pitch Black really look like?
The Tomato-coloured Couch 2:22pm
On My Way To The Mail Box
I Passed A Roadside Spread Of Asters
Pale Lavender Star-shapes Against The Golden Grass
And Auburn Leaves Of Fern — There Was No Mail
But As You Can Guess
That Hardly Matters
The Hawk Deck 11:10am
The Day On The Deck
Is So Still
I Can Hear The Echo
Of The Crow’s Call
Harsh, Yet Circular
Rising In A Crows’ Chorus
From The Scrub Spruce Nearby
Here Beside Me
Perhaps A Buzz Flies
Sobey’s Parking Lot, Barrington Passage 11:15am
WHY IS DEBT CEILING
SNAPPY TERMINOLOGY
FOR THEIR FISCAL CLIFF?
co-written by W Hunter Blair
The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:33pm
I sit in That Golden Light
until It, or I,
goes behind A Bank Of Cloud
Joanna Gilman Hyde 