The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 8:11am
I open My Window
to the cries of gulls
& flash My Eyes against
the light out over
My Morning Ocean
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 9:45am
I raise The Window
on The Morning Light
to assure My Kitchen’s Order
I hear The Gulls
& know Their Flight
while Song Birds
choose to loiter
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 6:34pm
I have found happiness
in the stillness of the air
I have found happiness
in the songs of the birds
I have found happiness
in the company of cats
& with a sleeping husband
I have found
that I am
whole
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 7:53am
Again My Sky is opalescent
framed within the window
of My Sliding Glass Door
I can hear the morning birds
the cats are quiet
coffee is ready to pour
The Hawk Deck 10:22am
Every Wave that crashes
goes through Me like a shot
invigorating My Cell Collection
so that I may never stop
They form the background
for The Birds Who sing
all My Favourite Songs
Together Our Surf & Flight
compel Me to belong
The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:40pm
I can hear Nova Scotia
in the song of the birds
on the convolutions of the wind
breezing through My Screen
Yes, I am screened in —
I live a life for God
by Her Design
I am laden
with My Perfect
Responsibility
meshing with the object
of My Deepest Wish
The Hawk Deck 11:11am
Oh Little Bird What
Is That Song You Sing —
Are You The Voice
Of Liquid Silver
Out Beyond The Scrub Spruce
Out To The Slow Breakers
Catching The Light
Of White Sun?
The Hawk Deck 10:40am
The Scraggly Apple
is a stunted tree
in My Back Yard —
The Only Tree
within Our Boundaries
used by various types of birds
as a deck-side outpost
for viewing and warbling:
I’ve seen Jays, Robins
Grackles, Sparrows, Warblers
and once a small Woodpecker
— anything heavier
would not be given perch
by Its nearly leafless
lichen-covered
branches
The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:30pm
That Bird with the sweetest trill
receives The Perfect Mate —
even Crows are treated fairly
with Their Devoted Followers —
The Bird World Works
& has worked for Millennia —
Shouldn’t Ours?
Joanna Gilman Hyde 