The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:00pm
I stood in a corner
beside The Photograph
of Dr Schweitzer holding Me
& chanted out for The World to witness
“I Stand For Silver”
“I Stand For Silver”
“I Stand — For Silver”
I chanted & chanted
until I could chant
no more
& became The Petulant Child —
now there lies
a cat
where My Feet were planted
The Hawk Dining Room 8:00am
“Everything’s going
all to Hell
very fast*”
yet I have
salmon pink clouds
turning to gold
*Dr W Hunter Blair
The Hawk Queen Bed 11:04pm
What Does It Mean
To Be Human?
To Top The Chart
One Bell Curve
Of Human Behavioural Spectrum —
To Sit Up There
Like A Star
Growing Into The Nebula
Reaching Out
To Very Vast Edges?
The Hawk Living Room 5:41pm
I have The Power
of Destiny
behind Me
–
The Strength
of Our Future
in My Present
–
I will succeed in creating
My Own Reality
as I see It every minute
every second
measured by moments
alone or with Others
Who may yet see
where I am
coming from
The Tomato-coloured Couch 2:22pm
She sits in black leggings
left foot tucked under
right thigh
couched on The Tomato-coloured Couch
Where Else?
under Her Depiction
of The Glory & The Fall
titled “My Black Star”
She wears Her Most Expensive Earrings
& socks with cats
given to Her by a coffee-drinking friend
She has come many miles
& many moons
to achieve Her Place
here
& plans to stay
as long as it takes
to answer Humanity’s Fatalistic Questions
There is no such “thing” as “mental illness.” There is no true illness which can be said to be entirely “mental” unless it is derived from an organic source such as a brain tumour. There are no physical attributes in the human body which can point to this description. There is no pre-determining test for “mental illness.” The psychiatric diagnosis used to determine the supposed state of “mental illness” is opinion-based at best, and most often this opinion is not shared by the individual in question. At worst this opinion is often shared by family members, friends, and society as a whole, creating a kind of trap or “Catch 22” for the individual.
–
What we see when we attempt to use this stigmatizing and false description of “mental illness” is an array of human self expression which may be affected by, or resulting from, changes in environment, sleep patterns, physical activity, thought, perception, interaction with others, or any conglomeration of naturally occurring factors which can and do affect all of us as human beings.
–
We are variable and complex. To lump any of us into “categories” of “mental illness” is a grave disservice to humanity.
Written by Joanna Gilman Hyde Blair
The Hawk Dining Room 9:30am
The Morning Glare
off My Ocean
fills My Room
with liquid light
I glimpse My Self
in My Mother’s Mirror
to catch That Figure
of foreseeable might
The Hawk Outpost 10:15am
I have risen to The Gleam Of Silver
aeons in the making
having set Its High
& clung to It
I will witness The World’s
turn-around
from the light of gold
to The Shower Of Silver —
from the day of the yellow metal
to The Night of The White
The Tomato-coloured Couch NOON
Gold is too warm
Silver is tarnished
like The Humanity
it represents
The Cold Truth
of believing in Our Selves
Our Bodies
Our Aspirations
–
*Ian Curtis, Joy Division
The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:10pm
Once, years ago, a Minister’s Husband
pronounced that when I painted
@ 23
I should have been 54
(NOTE: I will turn 54 on April 30th, 2015)
Joanna Gilman Hyde 