The Hawk West Desk Window 10:22am
I Am In The Shower
I Will Never Get Out
Should The Time Come To Towel My Self Off
The Glittering Droplets
Will Stay —
I Will Yell Forever More:
“Oh My God, Oh My God
OH MY GOD!!”
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:00pm
As I open My iridescent purple journal
printed with jewels
I have come to this place
where I am happy, fulfilled, & satisfied
despite the contradictory phraseology
pronounced severely over ten years ago
by My Psychiatrist (one of fourteen)
when I was insisting
I was The Second Coming of Christ:
“Joanna, You have so much going for You —
You’re intelligent, talented, beautiful
& This Idea is Wrecking Your Life.”
Then, less than two weeks later
from My Doctor Who became My Second Husband:
“–Joanna, You’re intelligent, talented, beautiful
You have so much going for You
I don’t see why you cling to This Idea –”
but cling to It I did
for twenty years now
& look where It has gotten Me
The Hawk Window Seat 10:00am
This morning I told The Carpenters
“I have a Sleep Disorder — that’s why
I’m always in My Bathrobe –”
It’s true, It’s not a lie
or an exaggeration
I have to get My Eight Hours
uninterrupted
or I’m
shot
The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:15pm
We are driven on a cellular level
snaking our way in vehicular shells
out of Our Homes over The Highways
to restaurants & shopping centres
where the precious sight
of one Left Female Hand is held
by a boyfriend’s across a table
while She texts with availability of Right Thumb
next My Daughter breaks into tears
in the kitchen isle of Wall Mart
when I hedge on buying new plates
because I fail to see any
I like
& settle for 2 boxes of 16 piece Zen Plum
glaze-crazed
in the Light
of My Kitchen
The Hawk Queen Bed 9:11am
I want to go to sleep
with the wind
up in My Turret
at the end of twenty years —
I want to sleep to seventy
& wake up to the noon
of My Old Age
no longer marred
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:15pm
America is famous for
Its Movie Stars
Its Giant Meals
Its Wide Open Pages
& It’s Famous For Me
though I have displaced My Self
To An Even Grander Space —
I Am In The New Frontier
of Canada
where endless gallons of water
are pure
where storms melt quickly
where trees get re-forested
& My Children Make Their Lives
The Hawk Family Room 4:44pm
According to My Perception
There Is No Such Thing
as an “illness”
Schizophrenia
The Schizophrenia Society is barking
up the wrong tree —
when My Brother received
His “diagnosis” at 21
that was the end of His Free Thinking
His Creative Mind Had Gone As Far
as society would let It —
at My Insistence
that My Brother didn’t “have” schizophrenia
My Father Francy declared:
“Well, Howard certainly has Something“
Yes, He Had A Creative Human Mind Influenced
By His Unique Perception
The West Desk Window 11:00am
The New Floors Are Down
without The Moulding Yet —
Hunter’s Library Is Finished
without Books
Wing Chair
& Grand Father’s Desk
I Am Frozen
In My Writing —
I recall One Social Worker
ten years ago
Make The Pronouncement
that To Stay Clean
Some People Keep Busy
or was that
To Stay Busy
Some People Clean?
Joanna Gilman Hyde 