H-e-a-r
I Am
dressed in a white sweat shirt
My Daughter’s pyjama bottoms
H-e-a-r
I Am
drinking a cup of tea — Earl Grey
sitting in My Grandmother’s Wrought Iron Arm Chair
H-e-a-r
I Am
next to The Sliding Glass Doors
It’s Grey Out
I Have To Check
On My Black & White Cat
Dear Guy Tozzoli:
You always called Me
“The World’s Greatest Artist”
You said
“You’re The Greatest Woman To Ever Live”
–
You provided the rectilinear framework
I provided The Nautilus
–
Am I Not
“The Face Who Launched A Thousand Ships?”
We Mark Stages In Our Lives
By The Pets We Have Loved
—
My Pet Lies Tonight
As The Nautilus
Our Black & White Kitty
Wants To Be Petted —
I Am Dressed In Black & Grey
having come to realize
Self Organizing Galaxy
spawned 9/11
Last Night @ 7:15
Mumbo reappeared
at Our Front Door
She spent The Night
on the floor of Hunter’s Room
on a sheep fleece
and greeted Me This Morning
when I called Her “Mumbolette”
She took 2 laps of water, no treats
and Hunter decided to give Her
a Cortisone Pill
She sat on the mat by the kitchen door
but We wouldn’t let Her Out
Even Then She Vanished
I looked all over the house
including the basement
and just now found Her
upstairs under Our Bed
Mumbo is camped out
on Our Black Cat Mat
in Hunter’s Room
— really The Family Room —
She had about a teaspoon
of evaporated milk
but managed to eat a few cat treats
earlier today
so maybe She’s not
on Her Last Legs
M(eye) Daughter’s Name
is whispered in The Restaurant
with Her Face covered
except for Her Left Eye
covered by a cell phone
texting messages to a German in Mexico
on M(eye) Fifty-First Birthday
She announces Eye am
The Most Graceful Eater
She Has Ever Known
"No Body's Gonna Mess W' My Super Cat!" Today I got My Super Cat -- not the tabby from My Childhood -- Today I got ASTRO -- The Longest Living Cat From The Pound -- The Biggest, Sleekest, Blackest Cat picked out by Me when All I had To Go By was a dark and haunted face sticking out from a butterflied cat bed advertising He Was Free! (since He'd been there over a year the adoption fee would be waived) but now He's worth My Life -- I don't have to say "He's My Mascot!" This Is All I Have To Say -- and I've said it to Him already: "Astro, Wherever YOU go, I GO" - written by Joanna Gilman Hyde Blair on December 2nd in The Year 2010 (& not written in Her Diary)
Joanna Gilman Hyde 