Belief System
The Human Mind can
and does believe anything:
Believe what you want
The Human Mind can
and does believe anything:
Believe what you want
THE COAST GUARD, Shelburne, N.S., Tuesday, July 20th, 1993 — 1B
SATELLITE ART FOR EXTRATERRESTRIALS
by Harold Hart
Joanna Hyde of Shelburne has
been busy recently in her back-
yard painting the design of a four-
teen point maple leaf on a huge
40 by 30 foot map of Canada.
–
The fourteen points mark loca-
tions in Labrador and Quebec
where Hyde would like to position
light reflecting surfaces to reflect
star-like points of light in the out-
line of a maple leaf into outer
space.
–
The large map arrived in Shel-
burne from Ottawa on May 17
where it had been hanging on an
outside wall of the National Arts
Centre. It was put there by the
Canadian Conference of the Arts
earlier in the year in an effort to
pressure the Federal Govern-
ment to stop cutting funding for
arts programs. It remained there
until the April 26 budget was
passed.
–
Joanna learned about the map
from an article in The Chronicle
Herald. Being interested in what
is called public art – the kind of
art which is large and displayed
outdoors – Joanna decided she
wanted the map. She contacted
the coordinator of the Canadian
Conference of the Arts and was
told she could have the map if she
would pay the shipping charges.
Joanna agreed and wound up the
new owner for just less than two
hundred dollars.
–
The map consists of twelve sec-
tions that were circulated to
more than 150 art galleries,
theatres, and schools in each
province where signatures were
affixed to protest government
funding cutbacks for the arts.
Once joined together the pieces
make a huge map of the country
with more than 400,000 signatures
appearing on it…
–
“Well, what is its weight?”
“Oh, it’s Dead Weight.”
“That’s OK. I just cremated
My Mother —
She didn’t weigh very much.”
–
After She painted Her 14-point Maple Leaf
Joanna lay down
and almost died.
She almost died
for years and years.
Long after one husband
cut up the map for tarps
to cover wood piles
at Her First Marital Home
Joanna revived eventually
on poetry and bird song
to find in the Summer of 2016
the abandoned map sections —
one with moss and ferns growing
out of it —
With the help of Her Adult Children
She retrieved three surviving pieces
of The Giant “Ties That Bind”
and dragged them across the county
to The East Side of Her Hawk House.
She laid them out
busy in Her Back Yard
hosing and scrubbing a 23-year build up
of Nova Scotia’s Forested Fate
stained and distressed
front and back
to dry in the sun
with the help of a couple of old towels —
not Her Grey One —
there was left no semblance of the configuration
of Canada — only the ghost
of a few red lines
a few patches of indelible signatures
and one partial strip of big black letters
along what must have been
the bottom — in English and French:
“…FUNDING FOR ARTS AND CULTURE”
–
She arranged the pieces
some still edged by sturdy grommets —
into what became a nearly perfect square
measuring 27 feet by 23.5 feet:
She had Her Canvas.
She would paint on the BACK.
She folded up the three sections
and with the help of Her Second Husband
She piled Them onto the floor
of The Hawk Utility Room —
the floor She had been using
for Her Most Recent Paintings
and as She writes, She thinks
of building a platform
a stage
perhaps next summer
if there is the same lack of rain
as this one —
She would secure The Triptych
upside down, with the foundation
of Canadian signatures — what’s left of the original
400,000
and setting up Her Gallons of Paint
with broom and hose nearby
She would paint and sweep and hose
Stratosphere of The Universe
The Hawk Deck 8:19am
Twelve weeks ago I took
My Last Pill of Olanzapine
and I am stable as I was meant to be
but have to deal with continued
sleep deprivation —
last night I got 61/2 hours
on 2 mgs of Ativan
which is better than the night before —
Eliza and Jon will see
My Sculpture this morning
as it sits on the kitchen counter
with Its Left Eye closed
and Its Right Eye
in Another World —
The Sun is out
and I have the freshness of September
coming into play
The Hawk Queen Bed 8:54am
I could write It now
while My Husband is in The Tub —
It’s all set up
in the heart of the USA —
The World’s Largest Slaughter House
when The Aliens decide to eat Us
They could herd Us along
the metal gates
the miles of trucking routes
in packed containers
to The Killing Chambers
where We would slide
down against steel floors
compressed
maybe 50 at a time
and dumped out onto The Cutting Boards
sliced
strung
savored
The Hawk Exercise Room Window 10:47am
Today before My Row
I opened the Hawk Exercise Room Window
finding two galactic
Spider Hatchings
— gold They are —
I am with Them
after My Row
One on the outside of the little screen
One on the inside
The Hawk Basement 10:34am
Last Night I had to roll
up My Aquatic Foliage
as I had signed it off
unsuitably for My Husband’s
viewer-ship
& so It lies
on My Basement Floor
ready to be saturated
with RAID
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:18pm
Tonight I spared The Life
of a 2nd Silver Fish —
The First One I squished
with My Sandal —
#2 was right against The Black Spiral
on My floor-laden painting
probably going after some glitter glue —
but He caught My Attention
at The Center of My Art
so I quietly observed His Behaviour
testing His Awareness of Me —
I put My index finger above Him
as if to squash
but He didn’t budge
so I let Him Be
The Hawk Utility Room 9:05pm
I sit before My Latest Painting
starting out as M(EYE) BODY
but quickly seen out
as Aquatic Foliage —
I’m wearing My most expensive earrings
which, earlier today, caught fire
in The Hawk Living Room
when I observed a filament cluster
of cat hair floating mid air
in a beam of sun from The Sky Light —
as I bent to grasp
and missed
The Illuminated Galaxy,
sparks ignited on The Floor —
M(EYE) Precious Grounding Floor —
as I glinted rays dangling from M(EYE) Lobes
all around
and down below
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 1:34pm
Seeing M(EYE) Halo
I Killed A Flying Insect —
Was I Wrong Or Right?