I had wanted to build
A silver bird —
Eagle perhaps
With a golden EYE
But not having the place
In which to cast
Out my desire
I withdraw
My clause
Christ wasn’t brought up
But it was ok
To talk of how pigs are killed
When their brains are missed
And how they drink the blood
Of their buddies —
This guest had brought
Peanut butter Haagen-Dazs
And when her story was over
She got up to do the dishes
And handed out the spoons
The Greenhouse
Eye have opened
A candle of musk
On my first morning
In Haida Gwaii
I am drinking my coffee
Black
In the dark of my hippy room
With deer pelt on the floor
By my bed
Of brown
And bone
And feathers
Langley, British Columbia 10:30am
Amidst the droplets of melting ice
Surrounding each eternal branch
Eye watched the grand daughter
Off to school
In coat bedecked with stars
Eye have shed the garb
Of Christmas
In favour of jeans and sneakers
To board three planes out West
To see my family
Of children
The view before me
Of the veiled sky
— distant edge of rain
Before the faint illumination
Tells me I am alone
To see
But not alone
Church spires have disappeared today
Against a backdrop of white-ish grey
The day is murky , still and dreich
I’ve a longing to cast away
The twinkle of the Lobster boats
Scattered like a necklace
Of stars
Along my Atlantic horizon
Remark to me
The wealth
Of our
Time
I saw The Last of Eva
In Her Strict Blue Eyes
Sitting up to get up
And out
Of a secondary hospital
Where is my brother now?
He is in my right eye
The corner of which
I rub occasionally
With my right index finger
As He so often
demonstrated
Joanna Gilman Hyde 