Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

MARITAL HOUSEHOLD

December 9, 2014 The Hawk Window Seat 8:30pm

All I ever really wanted

was An Affair

with Dr Blair —

but He wanted Me

to be cured

to cook Him His Meals

to go out on dark & stormy nights

for Gravol

to help let the cats out

& back in

so I grew

into A Doctor’s Wife

for Him

MORNING MOTHER

The Hawk Queen Bed 10:45pm

I see forever

the image of My Mother’s Morning

of Her standing

on the furnace grate

beside the windows in the kitchen

of The Valley Cottage House

She made oatmeal for Howard

& Me

& ate Her’s

with a wooden spoon

out of the stuck oatmeal pot

with forced air from the furnace

billowing up Her Nightgown

FAILED LAUNDRESS

The Hawk Living Room 2:35pm

Dr Blair makes a striking figure

even in pants from the dirty laundry

— I didn’t get His Jeans dried on time —

so off He went to do a house call

in spotted cargo pants

black leather jacket

& stethoscope in hand

DECEMBER MORNING

The Hawk Outpost 11:08am

I am faced

with a wintry sky

of heavy cloud

The Waves are capped

with white

against the molten grey

of sea

A check of the thermometer

confirms that I am looking

at a configuration

of cold

THE RETURN

Hawk Point Road 2:50pm

The Sun Shines

a variegated halo

over the southern tip

of Cape Sable Island

the land I live on

where I confide

in very few

& get My Groceries

on the notes of Joy Division

ATLANTIC 2

The Hawk Window Seat 10:52am

Years ago I left a house

with home-made curtains

& wooden floors

My Children both were babies there

& I was young with motherhood

& early marriage I thought was happy

until the onset of a tumour

inside My Mother’s Head

“Take An Ativan & Go To Bed”

The Hawk Queen Bed 12:18pm

I see The Deep Purple

of My Prescribed Nap

I hear The Fog Horn

against My Muffled Ear

The Rain is on The Sky Light

My Eyes are strained

against My Note Book

held in The Damp Dimness

of My Sleep-deprived

Afternoon

EASTERN VIEW

The Hawk Out Post 4:30pm

Eye walk to The Sky

held inside M(eye) Kitchen

Out Post

never am Eye lost

for answers seen within

layered clouds

of pinkish grey

& peaks of rooftops

gilded in the amber light

of M(eye) Earliest Evening

IN LOVE

The Hawk Out Post 1:06pm

I stand with My Morning

Coffee

in The Afternoon — delayed

by a fluky power outage —

I’m still in My Pyjamas

but it doesn’t matter

when I get My Shower

I Am A Free Woman

in love with the strapping band

of Ocean before Me

& My Forever Sky Above

FEROCITY

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:00pm

In December 1970 I wanted to possess

badly wanted

A Pair Of Love Birds

green & red —

sitting so close

in the local pet store

I had My nine-year-old heart set

on Them & cried to My Mother

that I had to have Them

to which She replied, “Joge, what if One Of Them

dies?”

Instead, on Christmas Morning I found

a beautiful Indian Ring Neck Parakeet

but He died That Day

at the bottom of His Golden Cage

& destroyed

My ability to see

The Singularity Of God