The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:00pm
He tagged Me a “Seer”
& leapt upon Me
when I aspired toward God —
He made Me fall in love
lasting through two decades
through two husbands
both of whom
cannot understand
The Hawk Living Room 2:28pm
I never felt the loss of My Mother
says My 2nd Husband —
He’s a Doctor — He should know —
and Yes, I admit it —
I told My Self when She was diagnosed
with Her Killer Brain Tumour —
I declared to My Self
“I will never feel The Pain –”
I swore it
and had only one session of tears
two months before She died
That was It — unless You want to count
The Shower Of Silver Lights
which cracked over Me
four days after My Mother died
leaving Me in a departed way
November 6, The Hawk West Desk Window 9:35pm
I saw The Pain
of His Parents’ Separation
flash across His Teenage Face:
six years later
when to My Son I felt I could confess
a poisonous love I husbanded
too long
am husbanding still — now My Daughter
runs Her Mother’s Risk
of another broken home
the one Eliza’s been homesick for
all Her Life
The Hawk Dining Room 11:11am
I stand in The Dining Room Window
My Right Arm crooked against
the back of a chair —
I gaze out to The Grey Ocean
slightly stooped, Me that is
and contemplate the remainder of My Life
however many days
Joanna Gilman Hyde 