The Tomato-coloured Couch
March 28, 2024
Cami, Dr Blair’s Cat
Died In Her Condo
Out On M(eye) Portico
This Morning In The Rain
Eye Carried The Tubular Cat Shelter
Replete w/ 1 Paw Extended
Out Behind M(eye) House
Over A Bank of Stones
& Placed Her
Tomb-like Between 2 Mounds
of Dead Ferns
Where Much 2 M(eye) Chagrin
Eye Could See The Carpeted Contraption
From M(eye) Kitchen
The Hawk Queen Bed
March 27, 2024
Eye Took Off The Jewelry
Given or Bequeathed 2 Me
By M(eye) Mother:
The Amber Beads of Orange
The Earrings of Spangled Copper
She Said Reminded Her of Rocket Flares —
The Ancient Ring of Hand-wrought Gold
w/ Re-cut Amethyst —
& Remembered Her
Champagne-bubbly Evening Dress
Sleeveless
Patterned In Gold Globules
Against Brown Crepe
High-waisted
Bought @ Lord & Taylor’s
For The Rainbow Room
When Eye Was 8
Out Shopping w/ M(eye) Mother
& Grandmother
In New York City
The Hawk Queen Bed
March 26, 2024
5:44 am
Our Beds R Our Wombs —
We Crawl Back Into Them
Every Night —
2 Decide Every Morning
If We Want 2 Be Born
Again
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost
March 24, 2024
9:00 am
My Father Bought Me A Bracelet
Off A Street Vendor
In New York City
When Eye Was Maybe 21
It Cost 5 Dollars
Which Did Not Please M(eye) Father
Butt Eye Was In Love
w/ The Stainless Steel Hoop
w/ The Inlaid Misty Moon-shell Slices —
He Said, “It Should Have Cost Half That –“
Yet Eye Treasure It Today
As The Worth of M(eye) Dad
@ The Age of Maybe 21
Eye Took M(eye) Father’s Hand
Crossing A Street In Washington DC
Whereupon He Said
“Joanna, You’re A Traffic Stopper –“
Eye am a Person
in This Universe —
butt what does that mean?
Eye am a Human Being
on This Planet Earth
& there is No 1 like Me.
Eye could be a Lobster —
Whose fate is 2 be trapped
& boiled alive
for The Delicacy
of Mankind —
Butt Eye am not a Lobster
like every other Lobster
like every other Alien —
Eye am a Person
unique in My Arrangement
of Hair on My Head
of Legs & Arms
of My Symmetrical Proportion —
My Hands are My Tools
& My Mind Knows
No 1 will eat Me.
Eye Remember A White Room —
Filled w/ Sun.
This Is M(eye) 1st Memory.
Eye Remember My Mother —
Lying On A Single Bed.
This Is M(eye) 1st Memory
of M(eye) Mother.
Eye Was Happy
Looking Around
& Around.
It Was The Day
of April 30th, 1961
@ The Presbyterian Hospital
In New York City
& Eye Was Happy.
The TIME of M(EYE) BIRTH
Was The Same As Eye Am Writing NOW:
5:26 am
& Eye Am Happy.
Joanna Gilman Hyde 