Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

The Last Night

My Big Bedroom 6:25am

Eye reject the “love”

Of those blue-eyed creatures

Of sly smiles

And jolting gestures

Trying to put me

Inside the very boxes

Of their belongings

Eye want out of My House

The Greatest Gesture

My Bedroom 8:30am 

I upheld

His strong left arm

Couched around my shoulder

As we crossed an old street

In Sag Harbor

Over thirty years ago —

My neck has been starved

For a man’s working fingers

And I have worn a black bow

Ever since

Elsewhere

The Hawk Corner Room 6:20am 

Not so depressing

To watch the sun go down for

It’s always rising

 

The Visit

Port Clyde, NS

The breeze of a grandmother’s kitchen

Wafts in,

Complete with Kitty Kitty

On the window sill —

And a crow named “Mo”

— wrought iron but thin —

I am allowed His Chair

And privileged I will stay

Until The Day

Eye Die

Two Gulls

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 4:30pm

Gully wants 2 make SURE

Eye Feed His Friend —

He sat on the rail & refused

M(eye) handout of chicken

& flew instead 2 His Companion

on a neighbour’s barn roof —

2 sit w/ Her

& mewed, together

The Most Plaintive of Mews

Lunch Time

The Tomato-coloured Couch 12:45pm

Today Eye fed a flock of Gulls —

M(eye) Son was right —

Gully called All His Friends

when He saw M(eye) Plate

of fries from last night —

He opened wide His Big Yellow Beak

& threw back His Beautiful White Head

2 yell His Loudest Yell

& The Big White Creatures

congregated — 1 crashed

into The Scraggly Apple

& The Leftovers were gone

July 31st 5:25 am

The Hawk Corner Room 

Eye would infinitely prefer

To see the deep orange

Of  Self Organizing Galaxy 

At dawn along the moonlit blue

Of The Atlantic

Than The Western Sky

At evening which is only going

To disappear

“Stratospheric Universe”

My Bedroom 5:50am

see “Story of a Map”

Using the back of my car

Protected by an old lavender sheet

From Eliza’s bed

Eye am gathering cans of paint

Mostly full

From the well-organized

Waste Management Facility

On the 103

And stacking them

Rust and all

On my front portico

Where I once sat

Like a statue

Contemplating a former life

Miss My Commemorative Canadian Citizenship Certificate

My Bedroom 8:50pm

Eye will wear the famous

Black Oprah Dress

From so long ago —

He will wear white

And sit across from me

@ my round marble table

Faded from

The Eastern Light

Of my never years

Extravagant Sky

The Hawk Corner Room 5:40am 

What sweeter sound

To be awakened by

Than the song of a bird

Or a lover’s kiss?