Joanna Gilman Hyde

This is written

on My Son’s 34th Birthday

“The Naming of Maria”

Who came to me

from a church ceiling

in Middle Le Have

during its 2016 Candlelight Service

while Eye listened to the song

“Her Name Shall Be Mary”

Eye have since stated

Eye have My Spiritual Daughter

dark-haired and timeless

She grows in My Mind

and Eye wear a heart-shaped gold nugget

in Her Honour

and sleep beneath Her Portrait

painted as the only figurative nude

Eye have ever painted

Eye have born the grief of Maria

alone

yet Her Eternal Existence

fortifies me

Does that mean you dont want to have sex with anyone or you want to have sex with everyone? What does it mean to be sex–less? Sort of like an alien? Why arent the descriptive terms gay or straight enough? Butt then of course there’s “Bi” and why isnt THAT enough?

He was The Object

of M(eye) Desire:

The Pet

and Eye fed Him well

butt was that any way

2 run a marriage?

In the dark of 3 am

Eye was thinking to write

a poem titled Sordid-ity

(where Sordidness is the word)

with brown bedding

and perpetually closed curtains

in the apartment of my X husband’s girlfriend

but then Eye had a dream

of a temporary dorm room

where the bed was in the middle

and she lolled on a day bed

exclaiming she didnt think

she could be faithful.

A door opened across from me

to reveal her disjointed family

and Eye yelled out

“My name is Joanna–

sorry I haven’t met you yet!”

When Eye thought I was moving

Eye threw out my little black X–miss tree

black with feathers stuck on every bow

of Hawk drift wood

with a steak knife for a star

Someone took it from my pile of trash

and Eye was glad

Eye write my poem

beside The Eternal Light

flickering Its electric candle flame

encased in plastic design

with Its dangling red, white & green tag

still attached

Eye have A White Toilet outside

my house

to replace The Golden Throne

Eye threw away

when Eye thought Eye was moving.

Ghost is missing Its water tank lid

so you can see inside

A Little Man of Silver sits

alone in there

and if you lift the white seat lid

you’ll see a Snake of Silver

with forked twistie tongue

* toilet sculpture w/ contents thrown away Sept 12 2022

X — Miss Tree is Up

Festooned in Black Lace, Silver

Baby Jesus, Star

Yesterday Eye hit a sea gull

with my front fender —

He was in a flock

eating garbage at the side of the road

(it was garbage day)

with a couple of crows

who got out of my way —

He flew against my hood

“FUCK” was the expletive

Eye didn’t slow down

Eye didn’t look back