Joanna Gilman Hyde

May 1st The Hawk Queen Bed 10:05pm

The First, five feet by seven, hung illuminated

like a single flame

in a New York City Rug District Window —

I gasped and gaped and walked inside

whereupon an alert salesman

showed Me The Larger Companion lying flat —

a Chinese carved nine by eleven

solid red

He said I could have Both for Two Thousand Dollars

Now Where Was A Starving Artist

in 1985

going to get Two Thousand Dollars to spend

on the double richness of wool from China

for an apartment barely big enough to accommodate one rug?

Her only job was working in a Japanese Piano Bar

where She diluted Chivas Regal with water and ice

and lit Japanese Business Men’s cigarettes

for an hourly wage of ten tax-free dollars

until two in the morning six nights a week

At this job She was expected to converse

and to Her Advantage She spoke of Her Art Projects —

one completed on the roof of The Commodities Exchange Building

of The World Trade Center

and Her Next Project:

A Bracelet for The Statue of Liberty

for The 1986 Centennial of New York’s Present from France —

One Very Nice Business Man Named Yoshi

handed over a check for Two Thousand Dollars —

with no expectations —

This Check burned Its way into cash

and when Joanna was informed by The National Parks Department

that there was no way in Hell She would be allowed

to put The Bracelet, yet to be made, ON The Arm

She decided to do something She wasn’t accustomed to doing:

She gave up Her Project

bought the rugs

and slept on Them in Her Bedless Studio Apartment

on St. Mark’s Place

Lower East Side of Manhattan