Joanna Gilman Hyde

Hillcrest Academy, Shelburne, NS

February 2, 2024

Eye Am Bearing Witness

2 The Dissolution

of The Canadian Public School System:

A Little Boy Asked Me In The Stairwell

If Eye Was Alright.

Eye Responded By Saying,

“Yes, Eye’ll Be Fine —

Thanks For Asking.”

Later

1 Decent Teacher

Subbing For Music

Talked 2 Me

In The Bedlam of The Cafeteria

Telling Me

She Once Taught M(eye) Daughter

In High School.

She Said She Saw Eliza

In A Dark A-line Prom Dress

w/ A String of Pearls

& Black Pumps

& Pronounced Her

STUNNING

(Eye Never Saw That Dress)

Eye Told The Teacher

Eliza Is In The Coast Guard

w/ A House In Mexico

& Mrs. ———- said,

“Good For Her!”

(So Eye Felt A Little Better)

February 3, 2024

12:18 pm

Miss Weiner, Have Eye

Written of You Before

w/ Your Long Dark Hair

Piled Partway In A Ponytail

High Upon Your Beautiful Head —

Your Dangling Earrings

Captivated Me

& Eye Thought

You Had 2 Poke Your Earlobes

Each Time You Put Them In —

Your’s Was The Math Class

Eye Eagerly Raised M(eye) Hand 2 —

Answering Your Questions

Against That 4th Grade Chalk Board

Beside Which Sat David Perkins

Who Asked Me

Where Eye Got That Necklace —

A Tinkling String of Tiny Glass Birds —

Eye Said “From Italy –“

& He Said

“Sttt, Italy.”

Is The Guzzle Gone —

Filled In From The Last Tumult

of Ocean Storm & Sand?

The Day Will Come

When Eye Won’t Have Gully

w/ His Speckled Neck

(Snow-white In Better Times)

He Leaves After He Eats

(of Course)

Butt Lingers Later In The Day

In M(eye) Back Yard

or On The Deck Rail

Where Eye Taught Him

2 Say “Breakfast”

(brrk brrk)

For A Piece of Bacon

This Year’s X Miss Tree

Is Naked Butt For Its Lights

Aimed At The Window

of M(eye) Upstairs Bedroom

& It’s For Sale

Will M(eye) Poetry Live Forever —

Reading Is Passe —

Or Is Technology

The Way It Is Today

Eating M(eye) Words?

M(eye) Son Is In The Army Now

So E(eye) Worry About His Death.

He’s Willing 2 Die For His Country

Or Kill For It

& Eye Do Not Agree

Butt If Eye Believe In “Reincarnation”

Does That Make Everything

OK?

God It Would Be So Nice

2 Have Loving Arms Around Me

As Eye Stand

@ M(eye) Hawk Kitchen Outpost

Looking @ M(eye) Scraggly Apple —

The Dead Tree Eye Won’t Cut Down —

It Stands Naked

In The Wind

While Eye Stand Inside

w/ 4 Cats

& 1 Pet Gull

On M(eye) Deck Rail

Just Came Back

From A Coffee w/ Milford

The Exceptional Bird-Carver

Who Gave Me A Calendar

Showing lmages of Intricate Work:

Flowing Feathers, Cocked Duck-heads

(He Says He Can Carve

Anything w/ Feathers)

& Eye Have Decided

2 Commission

The Replication of My Indian Ring Neck —

SAM

Milford’s 1st Tropical Bird*

*note — Milford Gerald Hopkins died one month after the writing of this poem.  SAM was never carved.

Eye Searched & Searched

For M(eye) Past Post

Recounting The T(eye)me

M(eye) Father Pimped Me Off

2 An Arab

Butt Eye Couldn’t F(eye)nd It