Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Category: poetry

MORNING NOTE

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 8:22am

Seek Striated Sky

Over My Steel-grey Sea

As Our Coffee Steeps

TRIUMVIRATE

The Hawk Living Room 4:30pm

A new arrangement of paintings

builds a triangle upon My Living Room Wall:

My Mother’s Portrait as a very young woman

painted by My Uncle

dresses the wall below My Balcony

hanging in the middle

above two impressionist paintings

of Africa — She took Me

as an infant to grow there

in Gabon and came home

with these two paintings

I framed in art school —

one showing a grass-roofed hut

palm trees with seated figure —

the other showing four bark canoes

and two figures readying them

in the foreground of open water

and open sky —

My First Year In Africa

She called The Worst Year

of Her Life — spent insomniac

underweight, pregnant

with My Fated Brother —

Africa inspired Her Novel

NOT EVEN THE MOON

never published —

Her Portrait looks down

to those two African paintings

and I look up to all three

RENAISSANCE BEAUTY

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 4:30pm

Today I watched The Beautiful Cashier

get out of Her Car

at The Little Store where She works

for a longer stretch than other

pretty girls — this One is magnificent:

an alabaster face

set with well-formed eyes

graced by a distinctive nose

She wears Her Hair loose over one shoulder

sporting Her High School Sweater

She beautifies Her Station

of lottery tickets

& vegetable scale

doing Her Job with a shy appearance

making You shy too

EXACT

Barrington Passage, NS  3:30pm

EYE have a piece

of The Night Sky

on My Right Middle Finger

My Trigger Finger

with The Silver Emblem

of a curve-sided diamond —

EYE am out

to make the sturdiness

of M(EYE) Self

Timeless

SIGNALS

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 1:10pm

I am seeing stars

for thoughts —

first a red one

telling Me to take My General Mills Letter

off the refrigerator —

then a silver one

in The TV Room

when I wondered

about My Bullet-proof Vest

But Oh!  I cannot be wearing

My Black Bullet-proof Vest

around the house

as a fashion accessory

to go with My New Ring

(which I still don’t have!)

BEAUTIFUL ARTIST SPAWNS 9/11

The Hawk Queen Bed 8:55pm

I have looked up

to see Orion

I have looked down

to see My Toes

painted Nordic Lights —

Tomorrow I get My Ring —

My Ring of Fire

bought with My Own Money

for I am That Child

Who must have Her Toys

& begs to be shown off

against Our Backdrop

of Disaster

 

CLOUD MORNING

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 7:40am

I see The Silver Lining

of the cloud bank over head

out to sea I look

to the pewter of the waves

The Sun is out, clouded

casting Its own Silver

across the rippled sky

WHO WAS IT?

The Hawk Queen Bed 9:22pm

Who was it who said

“Old Age Creeps Up On You”?

He should be shot —

Old Age comes over You in waves

when You’re not even the one

Who’s old

when It’s Your Elderly Relative

perhaps a dear old ex mother-in-law

with bad circulation

or Hunter’s Best Friend

with no kidney function

or an old goat of a cousin

Who wants only to die

on Her Goat Farm in Vermont —

These are The Waves —

and They wash over You

and try to get You

and there’s nothing

You can do

YES, I AM A BIRD WATCHER

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:12pm

I have just spent an hour at least

shielding My Eyes from the sun

to watch a flock of Starlings

starting in Our Yard —

heading across the street

in elongated splashes of sparkle

every time They took off —

and matted together on either

roof lines, grass or wires

in Their elusive group-think

I would give anything

to know

GUZZLE REPORT

The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:46pm

How dare they try

to count The Stars

by saying every one

is just a speck of sand

on all The World’s Beaches

— if that is the case

I have just traversed

trillions on My Walk

to The Guzzle Rock

covered in barnacles —

should I count them too?