Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

SOBEY’S

The Tomato-coloured Couch 12:45pm

Sobey’s is a home-grown grocery operation

with A Parking Lot

as one of the most innocent

& unassuming

public spaces

in existence

(at least around here)

Unsuspecting Shoppers

push Their Full Carts to Their Cars

push Empty Carts back

to The Cart Corral

Which says “In The Event

of An Emergency

Gather Here”

What is Sobey’s 

preparing

for?

I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:00pm

I Can Do Whatever I Want

I Can Write Anything

I Feel

I Can Write “I”

A Million Times

& Disregard That Man’s Word “ego”

Cancel It Right Out

I Know The Meaning Of Life:

I Have My Own Private God

A Beautiful Dark-haired Woman

Who Told Me In My Right Ear

“You Know

The Meaning Of Life

& So You Are A Star —

So Go To Sleep”

RED WHITE & BLACK

The Hawk Family Room 3:50pm

I follow A Digital Signal, Sign

first seen stuck on a banana peel

a square black & white intricacy

a computer tag for scanning

(My Daughter assures Me)

seen today blown up

on a floor to ceiling disaster-relief poster

at The Canadian Red Cross

lending unit

where I helped My Ex-Mother-In-Law

borrow supplies

for Her Husband’s Hospital Homecoming

tomorrow

when Dr Wilson says Mo

can be released

NAKED AS I WRITE

The Hawk West Desk Window 11:00pm

Over Seven Billion Human Hearts

are beating away —

some for the last time

some for the first —

how can Their Rhythms

be harnessed

for the awaited

Destiny of The Divine:

The Emblem of Far-reaching Truth

& Prosperity

of Our Organism?

PLAY ME

The Hawk Library 6:11pm

Dr Blair Play Me

like the remote

that came with Your New Air Conditioner

play all the buttons

over & over

beneath the old portraits

of My Mother, Her Gay Lover

& My Grandfather —

lull Me into submission

down below the New Device

creating cool new air

breathing upon

Our Marriage

READY

The Tomato-coloured Couch 8:45pm

My House is Ready

every dried rose is in place

not a spoon sits in the sink

all specks are off the floors

the coffee-table candle is lit

I am waiting for My Husband

to come home from work

& I am waiting, in place

for My Little Frog

to hop through

OUR SHOWER

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:30pm

When I had My Shower of Silver Lights

over twenty years ago

I transferred

The Totality of God

on & into My Self

& spoke of It as such

ever since

Until Today

I spoke It all again

to a beautiful brown-haired woman

& by so doing

I

have

become

OURS

GOD’S HOUSE

The Tomato-coloured Couch 1:00pm

Men don’t generally

pick lint & cat hairs

off of stuff

–

No kitty-litter leavings

get swept off the couch

by a male tidying hand

–

I’ve just put out cheese & crackers

for a new potential girlfriend

& lit a candle for Her

on My coffee table

Would a heterosexual man

have done the same?

THOSE WIVES

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:15pm

Some Wives willingly take care

of Their Husbands’ Intimacies:

They wash & fold Their Boxers & Socks

pick up fingernail clippings

from around the bathroom sink

wash Their Husbands’ Hair before work

(not on weekends)

& clean out the tub

–

aside from being served His Meals

My Husband is fairly self-sufficient

but I must remind Him —

I am not one of Those Wives

THIS IS MY NOVA SCOTIA

The Hawk Window Seat 3:10pm

Through My Screened-in Window

I Catch The Lupine & Wild Rose

Out By The Roadside

Rarely Travelled

The Lull Of The Surf

Out Past The Cape

Eases Its Way Through

The Song Of The Birds

& The Intermittent Play

Of Our Sunny Breeze