The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:55pm
He & I are Black Jesus
crawling out of The Depths
of filth & squalor
out of Lies & Untruths
clawing Our Way Out
of The World Today, Tonight
into The Sublime
of misunderstood Union
The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:56pm
I am The Little Girl —
stomach stuffed with Dipped Digestives
& Ginger Snaps
–
I am The Filthy Crow —
crazed & caged above A Cathedral-ceilinged
Living Room
–
I am The Entity Within —
pulsating to life
alerting My Gut, & so Me
to the impossibility
of Reconciliation
The Tomato-coloured Couch 9:22pm
Tonight I stood before
that incorrect microwave clock
to watch it turn from 10:20
to 10:22
& saw My Reflection
with hands clasped
in that deceitful pose
photographed on A Child’s Christmas Morning
when I stood before
a brand new blond dolly
I didn’t like
The Hawk Living Room 2:25pm
I hit the walls
square on
big bright screens
held Me, emblazoned
into the next century
and the next
on into the glorious replay
of The Shower Of Silver Lights
immortalized
November 28th The Hawk West Desk Window 2:34pm
Black Jesus, He a’Comin’
He gonna melt all dat snow
off dis Big Fat Snow Job
He gonna come outta hidin’
throw You a fast ball
He workin’ dis X Miss
He gotta girl fren
She be Him sometime
Dey works si’ by si’
Dey in love
The Hawk West Desk Window 9:34pm
Everyone was once A Molten Star
far away from Everything, but part
of A Churning Galaxy with Its Own Identity
A Uniqueness cast into Our Humanness
and when We Die, We Return
to The Eternal Cycle
and burn
The Hawk West Desk Window 10:22am
What was I pounding for
steadily on that giant door
of The Therapeutic Quiet Room
locked in & beating My Heart Out
on a steel drum?
It was for The Primitive Woman
I was That Strongest Black Woman
wailing with My Fist
until My Watch Strap popped
& They came to The Smash Resistant Window
& thought I had stopped
The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:47pm
What Is The Intrinsic Value
Of One Human Life
— Where — On This Planet —
Or Anywhere Else?
Is There Somewhere We Could Go
Where We Each Would Be Worth
All The Silver, All The Gold
On Some Other Planet — What If
It Didn’t Have Any — What If
It Had A Plethora Of Diamonds?
In My Book, We Better Stick
With What We Know
& I Know Each Of Us
Cannot Be Measured
Any Where
By Any Thing
Joanna Gilman Hyde 