PAINTINGS BY ASLAM ABOUJAMRA

by Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Hawk Corner Room 4:10pm

My Prison, My Sanctuary —

what I used to name Dr Blair’s

Big White Castle

where He worked hard and lived hard

for over thirty years —

is delightfully exposed

now, at The Foot of Dr Blair’s Big Brown Bed

here on The Hawk —

The Bed I have finally decked out

with new sheets and new comforter

in blues to go with His Eyes —

The Big Brown Bed in a pea-green room I left

in My Flurried Escape

returned to last night, but just

to sleep —

this morning I took down

The Lee Savage Drawings

facing Us:

A Woman (Lee’s Wife) with just lips

and Its Mate — Lee and Karen’s Open Porch

(on “My Side” of The Bed)

— Now, This Morning, I put up

The Frameless Oils

painted by The Syrian Brother

of One of The Doctors sponsored

by Dr Blair in 1999 —

The Year of Our Fateful Affair

— They’re A Pair of gaily painted

Houses —

The One on the left

is a small white house Dr Jamal Aboujamra

rented from Dr Blair —

and The One on the right

at My Night Time Feet

expressionistic-ally depicts the largest residential building*

in Barrington Passage

no longer owned by My Captor

swirling in brush strokes

of pink, peach and green —

The Giant Cedar

obscures high windows

of The Victorian Rooms

I floundered in

on couches and beds

while Dr Blair worked

in His Attached Office

I lay there and dreamed

on anti-depressants and Olanzapine

and wrote what would turn into

a book of poems

titled “No Bones About It“

stored somewhere in the basement

of Our House here on The Hawk

where I have finally found My Self

My Art, and Jesus to boot

in Jethro Tull’s Aqualung

played on The Canadian French Radio

while working on My Secret Painting

here in My Own Little Corner Room

where I am finally free

 

*Dr Blair’s Big White Castle burned down on the same morning in December 2017 I left for Christmas vacation in British Columbia — to spend with His Family and My Kids — without him.