Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 12:06pm

At 13 I flew

in a helicopter

off the Mc Nutt Island Light Station

to Baccaro, Nova Scotia

and decided to become

a helicopter pilot

doing art on the side

–

At 15 for My Birthday

My Mother provided

My First and Only Lesson

and took a photograph

a double exposure

of Me with My Braid

belting My Self in

–

At 16 I drove My Mother’s VW Square Back

to Spring Valley, New York

to go for a ride

and had the pilot buzz

Nyack High School —

when We got back to the pad

I tried to leave

without paying

–

At 18 I couldn’t get in

to The Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut

because of poor eyesight

and went to Wells College instead

taking all the art

I could take

to transfer into

The Cooper Union for The Advancement of Science and Art