Joanna Gilman Hyde

Barrington Passage 1:16pm

I’ve walked across

My First Fall Leaves

upside down, the leaves

not Me

Oh — not Me — I have

all the tools at My Reach

for The Greatest, Grandest

entry of All —

I have The Seasons

set before Me:

beginning with Autumn

when I laid out My Canvas

on Michael Jackson’s birthday

when I signed My Name on October 10th

when I moved to Nova Scotia

and had My 2.4 Children —

Oh I was happy

until My Mother Died

but then, even then

I had the shock of newness

in The Shower Of Lights

to ponder, to confound everyone

around Me

to culminate in October

the month of My Baby Girl

to release My Self

inside the reassuring caress

of The Littlest Man

to Whom I have linked My Self

in My Mind

for every last season of Fall