Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

MY HOUSE 2

The Hawk Queen Bed 9:18am

I am comfortable

in My House —

It’s not a hotel

with lavish sheets & pillows —

It comes with A Husband

& Seven Cats

lying about with the rain

& Our Second Cups

of Coffee

 

MY SELF-PORTRAIT

Me holding My Self-portrait with above portrait of My Mother Elizabeth Walden Hyde by Bernard Taylor 1966

Me holding My Self-portrait with above portrait of My Mother Elizabeth Walden Hyde by Bernard Taylor 1966 and watercolour of Me as an infant by EB Walden upper right 1961

GESTURE

The Hawk Queen Bed 9:57am

Hunter has a sideways glance

I find so endearing

He cocks His Head

to the right

& catches You with His Eye

tilted

for a split second

& looks away & down

having hinted

“Isn’t that so?”

ALERT 2

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:22pm

My Halo is back

visiting Me for half an hour

while I listened

to world financial forecasts

with Hunter

SILVER BULLET

The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:33pm

I will not be burned

at the stake I will be shot

in The Back again

PETER COOPER* HAIKU

The Tomato-coloured Couch 2:39pm

Giant Foundation

for Me to stand supported

about to topple?

*founder of The Cooper Union for The Advancement of Science and Art

written in honour of Peter Cooper’s birthday February 12, 1791

SKY PORTRAIT

The Hawk Dining Room 8:24am

If I could paint The Sky

this morning

It would be a WOW Sky

blending into The Ocean

with lateral lines of pinkish light

Sky Light

coming through the breaks

in blue-grey clouds

with Golden Wash above

THE SELF-PORTRAIT

The Hawk Queen Bed 9:52pm

If I were to paint

a picture of My Self

what colour would I use

to start?  Yellow, please

as I see Me in a room

of Gold

with Purple Rings

under My Eyes

as I see Them sag

into disproportion

I would put Chartreuse

upon My Fallen Lids

stark Black for Brows

still arched

My Two Left Moles

would be three-dimensional

& My Lips, cracked slightly

with age lines

would be a Lurid Red

maybe smearing across

The Right Side

Of My Face

THE GUEST ROOM

The Hawk Window Seat 12:22pm

I have put up

a sheer lavender curtain

— one that Eliza didn’t like —

in Her vacated lavender room

now to be used for Guests

Who may never come

— the curtain has purple carnations

scattered across it

without obscuring the view

of rolling surf beyond

 

MY KITCHEN

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:42pm

My Kitchen is a one-woman

affair

with “everything at My Fingertips”

as voiced by a former neighbour

from Shelburne where The Kitchen

was a communal eat-in

in the very old Shakespeare House

The Kitchen in Atlantic

opened out to the rest of the downstairs

& there I never felt It was Mine anyway

“My Kitchen” as I feel here on The Hawk

where I cook giant casseroles

to eat by the week

& where I am happy

even putting away the dishes