The Hawk Queen Bed 11:50am
On a Grey Day in March
I write The Poem for The 27th
The Day My Two Greatest Losses
befell Me by Fate:
The First was My True Companion —
My Mother made certain of that —
The Second was A Beginning —
The Beginning of A Child
I would never know
as I knew My Mother
The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:41pm
I always said I never lived
with a broken heart,
but My Mother broke My Heart
when She died
twenty years ago,
but I lived
with My Broken Spirit
taken over by God —
God stepped in
— stepped on My Heart —
He made Me see a Shower of Lights
Which did not fill Me
with inner peace
I was restless
not sleeping
years on medication —
I’m still on it —
I cannot drink The Red Wine
of mirth
without sleep disturbance
I need My Sleep
My Peace Restored
The Hawk Portico 1:00pm
I sit to watch the roiling ocean
with a ring around the sun
that wind’s still up —
I’ll put the kettle on
The Hawk Family Room 7:00pm
My Elementary Art Teacher
Miss Fabian
was little & wore tight sweaters
Her Hair was Black
She wore Black Pants
& told Me Artists usually stand
to do Their work
I don’t remember My Intermediate Teacher
but I made a giant bobby pin
& won an art certificate
at the end of Sixth Grade
My High School Art Teachers
were Miss Cotterall, little & blond
Who taught Me the basics
of Jewellery Making —
Miss Hues —
She was dark-skinned
& I painted a water-colour portrait
of Her in a patch-work skirt —
Mr McDowell
was the Track Coach
Who later told Me He was proud
to have contributed in some small way
to My Success
The Hawk West Desk Window 10:11pm
In a dim-lit windowless room
of Planned Parenthood
I must have signed My Life
away —
I say Must
because I do not remember
The Signature —
I say Life
because It was
Mine
The Hawk Corner Room 4:34pm
I just watched 9 Canada Geese
flying North
past My Picture Window —
I’m such a novice birdwatcher
I could only tell They were Geese
by Their Long Necks
(at least I had the sense to count Them)
The Hawk Corner Room 4:00pm
My Childhood Easter Egg
with Its Cellophane Window
Its Interior Hills of Sugar & Paper Bunnies
has opened out in My Adult View
through My Eastern Picture Window
to encompass Our Frosty Shoreline
7 Little Houses
& a School Bus Threading
Its way through Roadside Scrub Spruce
The Hawk Corner Room 9:38pm
I Am Not In The Yarmouth Psychiatric Unit
making cup after cup of tea
I Am In My Home
Trapped By Carpenters
Flooring Guys
& A Husband Who May Come Home
Early
The Hawk Corner Room 2:58pm
In Our Society of Carpenters
Our Chorus
One Voice Rings Out Above
The Others:
That of Ray
a petite crack-filler/painter
with “Christ Is The Answer”
on the front of His Little Red Truck —
and a handicap plate on the back
He says He was raised in an Ontario Orphanage
He ran away when He was fifteen
and somewhere on the way to Nova Scotia
along with His North Ontario French Accent
He developed The Sunniest of Dispositions
The Hawk Corner Room 5:50pm
Olivia sprang from Her Cord
& headed for both neighbours
on one side of the road
& then the other
where She met The Woods
& Her Owner had to take off
in one maroon vehicle
in nebulous pursuit —
She’s not back yet
but I have to get My Supper —
Joanna Gilman Hyde 