THE PASTURE

by Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Hawk Queen Bed 1:30am

I had a stone wall once

a series, a square

of old grey rocks, cleared & tumbling

fenced around an apple orchard

behind My Mother’s Island House:

It had two openings

for a wagon’s passage — one

on the East wall

one on the West

& I mowed through it

with a $2.00 lawn mower

over buttercups

& wild raspberry cane

& over a nest of field mice