Joanna Gilman Hyde

Last night Eye had a Coors Edge

at an outdoor cafe

in Shelburne

where Eye sat for hours

to take in the sights

of traffic and people —

Today Eye went out

to The Cape —

the three-mile long

spit of stone and sand, white sand

& green dunes

upon which is anchored

the one hundred foot high Cape Light

which shines

into my bedroom window —

out there upon its tree-less wilderness

Eye saw an orange butterfly

heading somewhere

& found a beverage can

faded to its aluminum sheen

& saw a one-legged man

sun bathing with an artificial leg

propped up against his beach chair.

There’s a line of light

beyond the scrub spruce

jutting against the monochromatic sky

which Eye could paint

if Eye painted that way —

butt Eye paint with found objects

abstractly

and the view Eye behold

is painted in M(eye) Mind

Selling my mother’s book

at the Western Nova Scotia

Exhibition Eye have seen

many kinds of people

in time to the music

including a Mexican family tending

an adolescent in a wheelchair

who was fed sips of water

in time to the music

as his father listened

to The Mariachi Band

& fanned his son

with a towel

in time to the music

as the painted Senoritas

flounced their wide red skirts

in time to the music

& a very young girl watching

bounced herself around

in time to the music

& Eye watched

an Indian woman in Red & Gold

dance for an imaginary lover

in time to the music

Eye carry the grief

of My Unborn Daughter

and how sweet

to know She still lives

inside the glass of water

Eye filled with Her Napkin

at the time of my tears

upon Her Appearance

to me in a church

in Middle La Have

on a night in December

when She came

with Her Name

Eye took off my favourite sandals

at two different walkways

today:

first beside the long blue ribbed plastic

carpet roll

of Stoney Island Beach —

the long and graceful expanse

of surf and people

on the east side of Cape Island —

the second was at the little boardwalk

to the more rugged Hawk Beach

right where Eye live

with The Guzzle at one end

and slightly irregular sand declevities

undulating along its familiar stretch

partially used as nesting ground

by the endangered Piping Plovers —

Eye walked these two white sand beaches

today

in my aloneness

and even went for an ice cream cone

inbetween

Eye still have Gully

fed on dry cat food

& infrequent pieces of bacon

He meanders around the cats

unafraid

on the deck

& flies off somewhere

w/ the regular gulls

@ dusk

With a confusion of bracelets

upon My Left Wrist

and double watches on My Right

Eye gesture to My Mother’s Book

McNutt’s Island Journal

and put forth My Sales Pitch

to anyone who will listen

This evening is beautiful

mild & quiet

butt Eye will not be walking

on the beach

as that would exemplify

M(eye) aloneness

which Eye am finding hard

to bear

Oh to be Gully

sitting, standing, on the deck rail

preening & stretching

He doesn’t care

that He is alone —

Oh, He just flew off

After hearing about Rogers’

shut down

on CBC Radio

Eye listened attentively to samples

of a women’s pro-choice protest in Washington D.C.

(My Mother almost marched there

against the Viet Nam War butt

got rear-ended at a toll booth instead)

and on CIFA Radio

Helen Reddy sang out

“BUT I AM STILL AN EMBRYO

with a long long way to go –“

Yesterday Eye saw My Self

in long sleeveless Navy

with Peak’s Haida Silver Eagle

flitting over My Cleavage —

Eye was meeting Eliza at the airport

and went into Tim Horton’s first

to order a large decaf with triple cream —

My Hair was out

My Figure full

and Eye felt

GOOD