Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Month: January, 2015

UNIFORM CONTROL

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:40pm

I’ll have no truck

with nurses in purple pinafores

& black pants —

just let Me have

My Cats

My House

My Dreams

of a little brown elf

I will pluck

from these unsalted

waters

PRECIOUS

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:53pm

Golden Light Fell

Across The Speckled Flank

Of Our Fancy Tabby

Who Died Today

While Holding My Hand

And Calling To Me

Through Unblinking Eyes

Of Black And Gold

A DAY OF DYING

The Hawk T.V. Room 12:38pm

I got enough sleep

Not The Sleep Of The Dead

still in My Pyjamas

She seems to want Me

close —

My Daughter’s Cat

I tell Her “It’s OK”

I pet Her “It’s All Right”

She gives a breathy mew

& lifts Her Head

to Live

ABBY

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:41pm

Oh to be an Egyptian Tabby

dying on Her Mat of Gold

pampered to excess

until the last pet

sees Her through

to the next

I SAW THE SKY FILLED WITH GOLD

January 27, The Hawk Queen Bed 11:22pm

Old Cat Named Abby

Can You See The Dark

Before You?

With Your Plaintive Mew

How Can I Get Through

The Night With

Or Without You?

A SUNDAY EVENING

The Hawk Window Seat 5:20pm

A Sunset scatters

Itself across

The Wildest Sky

with tiny outlines of Gold

along the bottomest of cloud

I hear The Wind Song along

the southern face of My House

and watch a neighbour’s weathervane

list in translation

A ROOM OF THREE GENERATIONS

Eliza’s Room 2:30pm

I live in a lavender room

where I have pulled up

the curtain against a backdrop

of rolling waves

and scrub spruce tree tops

above a painted chest

housing My Mother’s Childhood Diaries

I am sanctified

in My Daughter’s Room

where The Out-stretched Quilt

of rippling bands of purple

spreads  Itself beneath two walls

of My World Trade Center Rooftop Painting

titled Self Organizing Galaxy

and beneath My Signature

in three-foot-high letters

coloured Black

BREAD LINE

The Hawk Outpost 5:20pm

I am kneading in line

with The Low Line of Lichen

wrapped around Our Scraggly Apple

matching up with The Linear Extension of Scrub Spruce

against which The Apple’s Naked-tipped Tops

reach for The Sky’s Haze of Pink

I put My home made dough

to rise

THWARTED NAP

The Tomato-coloured Couch 2:22pm

I am The Sleep-deprived Princess

of My Own Regard

too tired to go to the store

for the makings of Beef Stroganoff

I will lounge on The Tomato-coloured Couch

in My Grey Sweats

& wait for Heaven

to call

SILVER STANCE

The Hawk Dining Room 11:09am

I catch The Silver Glare

off The Ocean beyond

a neighbour’s shed

The Sky is paraded

by a scattering of cloud

I sit in The Light

to write of My Day

to tell The World

I Am Staking My Claim