The Hawk Kitchen 7:45pm
Tonight when I went out in The Dark
to scrape a dinner plate for The Crows
I heard the distinct honking of geese
somewhere below the constellation of Orion
— the only constellation I recognize
beside The Big Dipper —
Oh, I didn’t tell You —
a few days ago — no, December 22nd —
I met one of the nurses from The Psych Unit
in the bakery section of MY Sobey’s
— it was One Who doled out bedtime pills —
She could barely say hello
The Hawk Queen Bed 8:00am
I Am Your Black Jesus
I Am The Silver Christ
flashing hot with menopause
sleep-deprived from letting Astro out @ 5:00
waking Eliza for school @ 6:30
making coffee for My Husband @ 7:00
The Tomato-coloured Couch 9:11pm
I was That Girl
Who watched uneasily
as Her Brother’s Friend
heaped dried leaves
on top of a little fire
lit to cook onion grass
in The Woods behind Her House
–
I was That Girl
Who ran back to The House
to get a pitcher of water
to meet Her Mother’s Alarm
–
I was That Girl
“eight-going-on-nine”
Who wrote a letter of thanks
to The Valley Cottage Fire Department
“for saving Our Woods”
“I’ll never scratch a match again”
–
I was That Girl
praised by Her Former Kindergarten Teacher
met in the school hallway
The Letter was in the paper
The Hawk Kitchen 4:30pm
I am That Old Woman
positioned by Her Kitchen View
of Yard, Ocean, Sky
with a cat on Her Foot Stool
& no knitting in Her Lap
The Hawk Queen Bed 9:00am
I sit inside a purple room
the chamber of a heart
when I close My Eyes
I see iridescent purple
& decide Whose Heart
I’m in
The Hawk Kitchen 5:40pm
I lost a hand made ring
of enamelled Silver
into the waves of The Jersey Shore
when I was 18
with My First And Only Boyfriend
–
Was It Silver going back to ore
as I told My Self
when I was 13 & lost
two Silver Bracelets
My Mother gave Me for Christmas?
–
What did I tell My Self
when I lost a hand made Silver-beaded earring
in the sand on Mc Nutt Island
when I was maybe 20
with a military man
whose name is long forgotten?
–
What do I tell My Self now
when I lose something
I might value
like a pair of crystal candlesticks
from My Mother’s Shakespeare House
put away in one of the boxes
I took unopened to The Salvation Army?
Joanna Gilman Hyde 