Joanna Gilman Hyde

I Walked through Haida Gwaii

Like Mary Poppins

Cleaning as I went

Along the down-trodden roads

Named Hippy Hill

& 6th Avenue

Happy in the mountain mist

And very light rain —

I will wear my grey wool coat

And black fur gloves

Again there someday

This morning I picked up the pieces

Of nearly one third

Of “Stratospheric Universe ”

Blown apart by severe winds

While I walked in Haida Gwaii

In light rain.

Now I will make more and more

And more

Out of my handfuls

Out of my tubfuls

And crop the remainder

To contemplate an island

Is to contemplate The Self

Individual and alone

But for the sky and sea

And those who dare

To live upon its striking shores.

This Morning I Walked

Before a gleam of gold

Between 2 Peaks

With My Son

And His Dog —

I watched the swath of mist

Between the inlet & cove

Of undulating scapes

& bulbous islands below