Joanna Gilman Hyde

M(eye) House is a Monument

2 M(eye) 59 Years

w/ M(eye) Children’s Art Work

intermingled w/ Mine

w/ 5 companionable Cats

leftover from a marriage

based on sex & home-cooked meals

(Eye was rarely taken out)

w/ a sea gull named Gully

(& His Friend “Interloper”)

whom Eye trained 2 say “breakfast”

for a piece of bacon —

w/ the bulk of M(eye) Poetry

lining M(eye) only downstairs book case

w/ 1 600 page volume

up on M(eye) closet shelf

March 25 20/20 The Hawk Queen Bed 2:43 am

Eye have seen The Structure of Light

radiating converging lines

at the edge, if it is an edge

of my windowsill

Eye have touched The Structure of Light

with my index finger on my right

if it is my right, finger tip

Eye have held The Structure of Light

within my frame of reference

if it is a frame

Eye have been Empowered

by The Force beyond my external self

if it is external

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