9/11 artist | Joanna Gilman Hyde

February 11, 2013

A CHILD OF LETTERS

The Hawk Corner Room 2:22pm

I was A Child of Letters

Valentines to Grand Parents

folded-over butterfly stationary to A Canadian Boyfriend

round pink stationary to My Mother from My Father’s Farm

I wrote to The Rockland County Journal News

when I was eight going on nine

thanking The Valley Cottage Fire Department

for saving Our Woods from a children’s brushfire

a page of loose-leaf in The 5th Grade to My Father

telling Dad to pay Mom a hundred dollars

a page of loose-leaf in The 6th Grade to A Boy

Who ripped it in half

& into My Teens

to Cousins, Friends

Boys I went to bed with

or wanted to

I wrote letters

to Men in executive offices

in My Early Twenties

I wrote & I wrote

all My Life So Far

like magic I am A Woman of Letters

They have preceded Me

Up Here in My Beautiful Corner Room

looking out over The Atlantic Ocean

with My Husband home from work

& a claw-less Siamese

pawing at The Door

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February 10, 2013

SERVER NOT FOUND

February 9th The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:58pm

The Internet is down

with a Red Exclamation Mark

notifying This Account

of no connection

I am connected

I am tuned in

on My Island attached

by a flooded causeway

to the rest of The Province

to the rest of The World

I could be, am I?

That Server

–

February 10th The Hawk Corner Room Noon

Can You make a poem

out of a News Report

of an eleven-year-old Boy

killed by carbon monoxide poisoning

while a Father shovelled snow

a Son kept warm

by an idling engine?

–

1:00pm

I could be that Determined Girl

Who shut Her Self in Her Room

stared at Her Self in Her Dresser Mirror

until The Glaring Face

moulded It Self into distorted patches

of brooding dark hues

I could have a lock-in

a lock-down

with the radio on for music

but not for News

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February 7, 2013

WHAT HAPPENED?

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:10pm

What happened to The Effervescent Girl

of Yesterday

Who willingly drove into Shelburne

for lunch & coffee

with Her Daughter

dressed — The Effervescent Girl —

care-free in Her LL Bean Jeans & Blouse

delivering Her Daughter’s grad photo

to be framed

What happened to make today come

where She finds Her Self

tired & sullen

dressed again in black

to drive to Yarmouth

for Her Husband’s CT Scan

to come home to a trapped cat

Who’s made an unwashable mess

on Eliza’s comforter?

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February 7, 2013

WHERE ARE WE?

The Hawk Corner Room 10:07am

Where are We

when

a seven-year-old boy

gets suspended

for throwing a pretend grenade

into “a box of evil forces”

when

this same planet

condones & finances

war?

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February 5, 2013

SITTIN’ PRETTY

The Hawk Corner Room 4:52pm

My Parents have put Me here

really sittin’ pretty

in My Grey Bath Robe

— never dressed today —

— only showered —

padding around in white socks

to settle before My Immaculate View

of Ocean & Sky & occasional long white wave

–

Yes, if it weren’t for My Parents

would I be Here at all?

Tomorrow will be the first anniversary

of My Father’s Quiet Death

March 31st will be the twentieth

of My Mother’s skull-shattering

Expiration

–

and I am left

in the care of My Doctor/Husband

A Man My Mother never met

A Man My Father said would grow too old

–

Yes, I’m sittin’ pretty

in a Present to die for

My Future to live

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February 4, 2013

HERE

The Hawk Corner Room 3:53pm

I was That Pouty Child

stomping Her Left Foot

when She couldn’t see

G-O-D written in The Sky

–

Forty-five years later I am

looking at The Clouds

billowing behind streams of flurries

out over The Ocean

when the notion of God

is no longer literal

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February 3, 2013

THERE

The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:47pm

I was That 37 Year-old

with The New Haircut

back from Pass

— why was I even in There?

Because I thought

I was The Second Coming of Christ

wearing A Sign on My Blouse

“Waiting To Be Believed”

with A Helium Balloon tied

to My Very Thin Wrist

being told by Nurses

to take off My “inappropriate” Sign

& My Balloon

so They would agree

to talk to Me

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February 3, 2013

MY ONLY PROBLEM

The Hawk Corner Room 2:38pm

I sit upstairs in The Corner Room

temporarily vacated by Eliza

I look out to the layers of grey

in My Winter Sky

I wear My Usual Black

& wonder why

I have an anonymous Gravatar

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February 2, 2013

22nd YEAR

The Hawk Kitchen 12:50pm

I was That Nice Young Woman

balancing babies on My Left Hip

splitting firewood for The Atlantic Stove

hair shoulder length

smiling for photographs

coping with My Mother’s Illness

but not Her Death

Illuminated by The Shower of Lights

I descended into Depression

spanning eight years

pulled out by The Arms

of My Doctor

Who became My Second Husband

–

In This 22nd Year My Hair is short

children grown

I wear black

and block My Heart

in A Vault of Silver

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February 1, 2013

ALLEGIANCE

The Hawk Corner Room 12:15pm

I Stand At Attention

with The Ocean View before Me

with The Picture of My Mother’s Face

wearing only Her Orange Lipstick —

Her Heavy-lidded Eyes

Green and Happy —

I Am Here because of Her

and My Arrival has taken

Eons

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