Joanna Gilman Hyde

On This Eve

of The 30th Anniversary

of My Mother’s Death

Eye reconcile loss

in the form of 2 Daughters:

Born of Death

Born of Light

Born of Miss-under-standing

One Blonde & One Dark

One thriving on Time & Money

One killed prematurely on The Morning

marked March 27th, 1997

One Who questions costume bling

on My Left Ring Finger

One Who is marked

by The Heart of Gold

on My Right —

One named Eliza —

One named Maria —

These 2 Daughters O’Mine

recount the hours, decades lost

from these 30 years

this half of My Life so far

on the way to the next third —

They grow with Me

Older

Eliza already fretting

about “aging”

Maria ageless —

Eye carry Them, heavy

but worth every ounce

Gully has A New Girlfriend

at least that’s what Eye think

She is

He sits with Her by The Scraggly Apple

& flies to The Deck Rail

to be offered a piece of deli ham

but repeatedly flies back down

to His slightly smaller compatriot

as if to say to Me:

Now feed Her too

Today Eye Got Up

@ 4:30 2 put the cats out

(Eye have successfully gotten rid

of their cat box)

Made My Decaf

and instead of dancing

went back to bed

2 have The Dream

of trying 2 get Eva out

of the nursing home

She was put in by Her Children

2 die and not 2 live —

Eye said 2 Her

“Don’t have a heart attack –“

as Eye hoisted Her up

and onto My Shoulder

M(Eye) MONSTER

@ The Foot of M(Eye) Bed

came alive This Morning

In All His Darkness

and glinting glass —

@ His Base Lies

Priscilla’s TV

smashed but glowing

with The Fateful Obscenity

scrawled & sprawled across It

Eye can dance

before This Hero O’ Mine

in cold pre-dawn

(if I feel like it)

and cast M(Eye) SHADOW

across THE SILVER SCREEN

pulled down

@ M(Eye) WINDOW

so nobody peeps

A Beam of Moonlight

is hitting My Bedroom Can Painting

& My X’s Cat Cami

is pawing at My Back

Oh –She jumped on the window sill

& blocked It —

There is The Artist

Who lives on Cape Sable Island

Who claims She spawned 9/11

with Her Galactic Canvas

of The Elliptical Spiral:

Her Emblem of NO BEGINNING

& NO END

stretched out on World Trade Center #5

in 1984 — 9 years before the first bombing

17 years before The Final Shut Down

She made Her Statement

in Western Dress

with Heaps of Hair

& Her Emphatic Smile

to inadvertently Shock

& Rock The Islamic World —

to Command The Attention of

The Rest of Our’s

This morning’s snowy light

hits One Can Painting

in My New Living Room

cleared out recently

of all loose art

so now Eye can gaze

at the shining remnant of CANADA DRY

afixed to My Copper-coloured Plaque

hanging across from Me

as Eye sit writing

from My Uncle’s Wing Chair

My “X” is no longer

“My” X — He

has been thrown out

now

All that Eye possess of Him

is One Garfield Garbage Can

His Cat Cami

Who yeowls incessantly

for Me to pet Her yet

Eye have awakened

from The Dream of Dr Blair

Balding On Top

with elongated eyebrow hairs

with His Arms skinny like His Girlfriend’s

So now Eye can Stop

feeling taken in

by His Deep Blue Eyes

His Thick Silver Hair:

All that Eye really once loved

My Daughter is with Me

asleep still

before Eye make Her Coffee —

My X’s Cat Cami

has finally shut up

Her Terrific Yeowling

for ferocious pettings

and snow laces The View

of My Gully nestled

with His Companion

against a patch of grass

by The Scraggly Apple

Eye have always MOVED.

Eye have never been inert —

for billions & trillions of years

before Eye was conceived

in The Mind of God —

butt then Who was counting??