Eye have come
2 M(eye) place
Set before the liquid sun
Glinting off M(eye) perishable ocean
M(eye) precious ocean
Heralded by the inshore waves
And birdsong I love
And choose to live by
Eye sleep cross–wise
in my husband’s bed
well it’s mine now eye guess
we’re getting divorced
@ his request
From The Tomato-coloured Couch:
And Eye Am Restored —
with The Moon* Full Above
My Blushing Ocean Outlook
Eye have My House Full
of My Art, Eye have
My Cats, 5 in all
and Eye have My Food
The Substance of My Soul
which Eye Know Now
to Be Joined in Thought
In Observation, In Sensing
In Fun and Eye am Happy …
*The Emblem of Silver
That Head Eye Adored
for 20 years
was encased in black fur
like a hood
and Eye was kissing him again
and crying through the fur
“I married you for protection!”
A penis was there too
long and straight
and Eye pushed him backwards
to gain it’s insertion
but as Eye felt the force
of the substance I had married
and tried to reclaim
he withdrew
Today Eye have bought The Ring
to signify emergence
from the undergrowth of my marriage
striated as Eye am
wearing the literal pattern
of freedom from the forest floor
where buy eye see the clearing before me
Eye have Her
on my shoulder again, my right
at my ear
26 years later
I still hear Her melodious words:
” You Know The Meaning Of Life
And So You Are A Star”
She is warming me
in the absence of my husband
and I cannot live
without Her now —
though with Her
Eye will live forever
and ever
He had put my mother’s furniture out
around the corner of the Shakespeare House
to get whatever he could for it
and was moving in with his pregnant girlfriend
who had a crib stuck in the staircase
with me climbing up through it —
Someone had removed Self Organizing Galaxy
off the internet —
My Daughter was going away
with her hands dry and neglected
and I was unable to retrieve
the phone number
of one of my only friends
for help
I walked out of The Marital Bedroom
angry as I was
yet His Blue Sage Tranquility Candle
is set again upon My Bathroom Window Sill.
I wear The Divorce Ring
I forced Him to buy two summers ago
upon My Left Ring Finger
to signify the solidity
of my determination
to keep The Man I claim —
The Man I married
by mistake
The Man who incites my ferocity
and excites the most basic desire
I know.
I know.
Joanna Gilman Hyde 