The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:00pm
I am The Girl Who’s
had Every Advantage
even when the heel broke
off My Glass Slipper
I arrived unscathed
from an orgy of Champagne
in the back of a Limousine —
too bad I don’t remember
The Home Stretch
The Hawk Deck 9:38am
The World Is Waiting
The Guns Have Been Silenced
I Will Come Forward
With A Primitive Call
To Hands, Arms Extended
— The Reconstruction —
Waiting In Our Laps
Our Greatest Power
October 11, 2013 The Hawk Queen Bed 10:50pm
I took off My Purple Sweater
& laid It in the laundry basket
nestled around My Big Black Cat Astro
I saw The Colour Purple
next to My Cat’s Blackness
& saw My Giant Satin Lips again
that Monument To Sex I sewed & stuffed
for a Cooper Union sculpture class —
body-length zippered pillows I presented
dressed in Black, I kicked off My High heels
butted out a cigarette
unzipped My Fierce Creation
& climbed in
sunk unseen down inside The Fuchsia Lips
zipped back up
The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:55pm
White Trucks are mechanical Angels of Mercy
I saw One driving out of the polling station today
after voting for My Liberal MLA
(Member of The Provincial Legislative Assembly)
Whom My Husband says is Pro-Life
The Tomato-coloured Couch 2:37pm
God is sitting above
a sky-black plate
eating Her bagel sandwich
dropping an array of crumbs
on the outcropping
of The Cosmos
The Tomato-coloured Couch 2:22pm
Once I wore black
for My Favourite Psychiatrist
Jesus Black — black velour sling pants
black push-up bra
briefly hidden by a golden tee
which said “Trust In The Lloyd”
My FP asked if I had made the slogan
I told Him, “No, it came from a movie”
and tore off The Tee
as I sat on an unforgiving mattress
on the floor
of The TQ Room — not a room — an unforgiving space
euphemistically named The Therapeutic Quiet Room
— My hair was longer then
blonder
I might have looked wild —
My Tall Psychiatrist
stood above Me
and looked at the ceiling
and said what I presume
was a prayer
I don’t even know
why He was in there
and I certainly do not know why I was
Note: related passage in The Script
The Hawk West Desk Window 7:38am
A Teenager’s Lament to His Mother:
“You had Me believe in Santa Claus
You had Me believe in The Easter Bunny
Now You ask Me to believe in God?”
The Hawk Dining Room 3:53pm
I rest My Chin
in The Child’s Posture
between My Fists
I contemplate The Greyness
of My Ocean
It’s All Mine
nobody
can steal It
away
I
will
hold
It
to
Me
within My Veins
within My Flesh
within My Insides
I Am The Salt
I Am The Water
I Am Here
in The Child’s Stance
Joanna Gilman Hyde 