The Hawk Kitchen 7:20pm
Who wants a stodgy
old bronze bust
when You could have
My Husband’s Beautiful Head
in A Splash Of Silver
from Out Of This World?
The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:35pm
I lost a hand-made earring
in the sands of My Mother’s Island
I lost a hand-made sunset ring
in the waves of the Jersey Shore
Both coincided with boyfriends
of My Youth
One Whose name I don’t remember
& One I hope to see again
now in Middle Age
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 7:53am
Again My Sky is opalescent
framed within the window
of My Sliding Glass Door
I can hear the morning birds
the cats are quiet
coffee is ready to pour
The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:00pm
I Am Made Of Silver
My Heart Is Gold
My Legs Are Strong
To Carry Me
Where I Stand
Where I Speak
In Dripping Diamonds
Where I Spit
My Words Of Truth
Un-tasted
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 3:45pm
The Extraction of Silver
from My Mind
which is My Body
will be The Explosion
We have been waiting for
while I sleep
in My Unsettled Bed
waiting for The Shower
of Silver Lights
to be
manifest
Listening to Future Islands 8:25pm
One night
an eternity ago
when I was young with My Brother
alive, yet within the walls
of Our Psychiatric Unit
He gave Me a white carnation
& a red rose & said
I was The Rose — I asked Him
to join Me in the morning
in My Pink Bedspread-ed Room
to make the announcement
to Our tall psychiatrist:
as I took Howard’s hand
I pronounced to Dr Chandler
“We are The Second Coming of Christ”
and he, that very tall man
with the booming voice
walked out
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 4:11pm
I just saw A Star
of red
against a sky
of cloud
It came at a specific thought
when I wondered
if I had said
— oh what was that?
if I had said —
The Hawk Kitchen 12:45pm
In The Bargain Shop
where I bought 2 pairs
of rowing shorts
I heard a skinny witch cackle
“It’s cold enough in here
to kill Ya –”
Then She appeared in
My Rear View Mirror
in the drive-thru for a McDonald’s coffee
sitting with an angelic niece or daughter?
in an old brown pick-up
The Hawk Corner Room 8:17am
Is that a dramatic bank of fog
or illuminated low-lying cloud
out across My Calm Horizon?
It tapers off
to the south
is thickest to the north
& how I wonder
what weather
it has in store
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 5:05pm
I am living every woman’s dream
with 2 handsome husbands
& a lover in the wings —
I can make bread pudding
to save the birds from My Cooking
I can sit in My Grandmother’s Wrought Iron Chair
to look at The Sea,
My Pristine Blue Horizon
& remember what She said when I was a child:
“Someday Joge, You are going to make some man
very happy”
Joanna Gilman Hyde 