Eliza’s Room 5:45am
Oh where does My Cow Bird go
when He goes to sleep?
I have seen Him take His Lunch
from a neighbour’s feeding station —
I check His Return
to My Side Mirror
faithfully listening
for His Watery Warble and Squeak
The Hawk Deck 10:01am
As A Child
the call of The Wild Blue Jay
signified to Me
I had My Whole Life Ahead —
when I hear Him now
I am informed:
“Joanna, You have
Your Whole Life
Bestowed”
The Hawk Deck 7:19am
EYE have been held in a trance
by The Birds, The Rooster
Their Song on The Air
The Silver on The Sea
and My Successful Adjustment
to the sleepless effect
of going off My anti-psychotic medication
four days ago
The Hawk Deck 8:40am
In the early to mid morning
the domestic call of The Rooster
cackles through The Scrub Spruce
from one road over
& delights My Humour mixed
with the wild clucking
of Our Local Bird Life
I so dearly love
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 6:20am
I Love The Sun
filling My Kitchen
accompanying the coffee pot
bringing the bird song in
through the screened
outpost window
& filling My Life
The Hawk Deck 9:00am
The Silver off The Water
crashes into My Eyes
loosely glinting on Its Southern Edge
I hear The Morning Birds
out on My Deck
with the screen open behind Me
hearing the water kettle on
for Our Second Cup
The Hawk Corner Room 7:07pm
Olly The Gull
came from His Nesting Grounds
on The South End of McNutt’s Island
stolen by Me
in My 13th Year —
raised on bread and milk
taken up to The Island House Rooftop
and told to fly
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 1:22pm
Three birds landed in My Scraggly Apple:
two Starlings and one smaller greyish-brownish variety —
and dropped to the yard
into high grass needing cutting —
but there I saw through the grass
the smaller unknown open His Mouth
and The Starling nearest popped something
inside — I saw this
three times
before The Threesome flew off
and left Me
to tell My Husband
as He came home for lunch —
when My Husband was done
eating His Bagel
He looked out back and was able
to see a return of The Starlings
to the opposite section of Our Yard
whereupon The Youngster
almost hidden by grass
opened His Mouth again
and got fed some more
The Hawk Deck 9:32pm
I just tossed a little dead bird
off from the bank
where the X-Miss Tree lies
— a capture of Cami —
Who is provided a bell
but which the little dead bird
couldn’t hear
in its sleep
The Hawk Deck 7:54am
What is it
in the crashing of waves
that makes Peace come to Mind?
It it the accompaniment
of morning birds
or is it sitting in My Chair
out in the morning air
of My Life’s Domain?
Joanna Gilman Hyde 