Today eye lost
A breakfast twenty
Somewhere between
Peak’s vacating sublet
And the convenience store
Somewhere amongst
The ramshackle outfitting
Of the mountainous contrivance
Of Northern Town Living
Eye wish I could say
“I slept like a log”
But managed to have
A magnificent dream:
In a public place here somewhere —
A marina for instance with shopping
(There is no place like that here)
I watched in awe
With babe in arms
(My first grandchild yet
To be conceived)
An avalanche into the sea
Complete with smoke
And flying debris
And one giant Balancing Rock
Which landed geologically
Briefly
Before tumbling
Away from me
After the tepid hot tub
She lay decorously along
Her scattered floor
Elbow against an old hairy pillow
To talk of her latest dumpster dive
It’s still going on
In slow motion
With Eggs Benedict at noon
And a hike through old growth spruce
To a misty mountain lake
Where I yelled out
“Happy Birthday Peak”
To listen to it’s echo
Forever
I had wanted to build
A silver bird —
Eagle perhaps
With a golden EYE
But not having the place
In which to cast
Out my desire
I withdraw
My clause
Christ wasn’t brought up
But it was ok
To talk of how pigs are killed
When their brains are missed
And how they drink the blood
Of their buddies —
This guest had brought
Peanut butter Haagen-Dazs
And when her story was over
She got up to do the dishes
And handed out the spoons
The Greenhouse
Eye have opened
A candle of musk
On my first morning
In Haida Gwaii
I am drinking my coffee
Black
In the dark of my hippy room
With deer pelt on the floor
By my bed
Of brown
And bone
And feathers
Langley, British Columbia 10:30am
Amidst the droplets of melting ice
Surrounding each eternal branch
Eye watched the grand daughter
Off to school
In coat bedecked with stars
Eye have shed the garb
Of Christmas
In favour of jeans and sneakers
To board three planes out West
To see my family
Of children
The view before me
Of the veiled sky
— distant edge of rain
Before the faint illumination
Tells me I am alone
To see
But not alone
Joanna Gilman Hyde 