In the stillness Eye write
standing on my deck
with opaque sun
and distant waves
closer
to the dappled bird calls
heralding this new morning
If Eye could write an Ode
2 His Eyes
It would be blue
and changeable
2 match every shirt
Eye picked out
Eye have A Black Heart
atop M(eye) Tree of Desire
upside down It becomes
The Seat
of M(eye) Sexuality
cold as the grand arrangement
of colourless balls and trinkets
carefully placed to surround
M(eye) Emblem of Jesus
suspended above a lower bough
You told me repeatedly
Eye was The Love of Your Life
and then said
“YOU KILLED IT”
How — Eye would like to know
when You got a girlfriend
“Not Much 2 Look At”
while Eye have had no one
2 fill
M(eye) Life’s Desire
The Way You Did
Today Eye am going to put
My Emblem of Female Genitalia
up in my bedroom, where it belongs
trimmed in black lace
and silver stars
and perched with a glass squirrel
— My Mother’s Sentiment —
for how She saw Her Self
Eye have moved
from Thunder Bay
into the cover of darkness
brandished across my mouth and nose
for my provincially regulated 14 days
I am expected to remain
in my humble surroundings
with 5 cats
and one attentive neighbour
volunteering to get
my groceries
Joanna Gilman Hyde 