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
Joanna Gilman Hyde 