The Hawk Kitchen 7:56pm
Imma takin my dollies
an goin’ home.
Dere infiltrators messin wid my blog
& I don’ like it.
Dey gi’ me d’ creeps —
Dey readin’ my stuff
settin’ up fake blogs
gettin’ me to write mo’ stuff
I mad.
I’s goin’ home.
The Hawk West Desk Window 10:09am
I stood as The Child
stooped slightly
with My Left Hand on My Belly
My Right behind My Back
My Head turned to The Left
“These are My Socks
My Watch
My Room, My Radio
It’s My World
— leave My World Alone”
The Hawk Kitchen 4:54pm
The Littlest Man has shrunk
to the size of a peanut
— the bearded old man I saw
inside every peanut I opened
as a kid —
I’ve cracked His Nut
& peanuts aren’t nuts anyway
they’re legumes
The Hawk West Desk Window 12:13pm
I saw An Angel Once
— while My Mother lay dying —
She Flew from Left to Right
amidst The Bows of A Lofty Pine
I told My Mother Where To Look
for Belly, Arms, Sleeves
She turned Her Head, My Mother did
so She Never Leaves
The Hawk Library 5:22pm
Here is A Painting
I have followed all My Life
first at The Valley Cottage House
over the white mantle
then moved to a dark wall
of The Shakespeare House kitchen
Now, in Its mature glory
hung in Hunter’s New Library
where I can sit in Our Wing Chair
across from The Subtle Watercolour
of The Moon as unpainted paper —
Its reflection’s sparkle unpainted
and Its Luminosity
spread from inky cloud
to Hudson River Water Scape
with a 3-planked, 4-posted dock
bathed in silver
–
*Ernest Beverly Walden
The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:57pm
I’ve been mismatched All My Life
yet all these cock-eyed relationships
have lead to The Castle I now occupy:
My Beautiful Home By The Sea
housing six cats, All My Artwork
& thirty pounds of diaries
The Tomato-coloured Couch NOON
I have One Child still
at home
I fold Her Laundry
Make Her Bed
because
I Love Her
The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:45pm
I’ve consulted an auctioneer
as to the possibility of selling off
My Family’s Letters, Memorabilia
Battles Between Offspring
& Every Valentine From 1947
to The Early 80’s
when My Grandparents Died —
but My Husband doesn’t think
I should
& My Daughter thinks
I wouldn’t get more than $20.00
The Hawk Kitchen 9:37am
I floated down The Hudson River
on a cloud of pink
baby pink
but I had eyes
& could see My Parents
incestuous playmates
together at The Waterfalls
of Snedens Landing
I impregnated My Mother
& She tried to gallop on a horse
to get rid of Me
but since I stayed
She wanted Me
& stuck to Me like horse glue
The first year of human-hood
was spent in Africa
for My Father to teach Africans
how to drive tractors
& for My Mother to give dinner parties to African Dignataries
where Dr Schweitzer held Me
on His Lap
& looked at My Toes
As soon as My Mother & I came home by freighter
Howard was born
& He became My New Shadow
The Hawk Deck 10:37am
Our Mother raised us single-handedly
while Our Father, back from Africa & Divorced
toiled fruitlessly on a dairy farm
Howard & I grew into
robust teenagers
— He a musician
— I an artist
laden down
by My Mother’s Failed Love Affair
with a famous Jazz Player
Fuck This Shit —
I’m not laden down by anything:
Mother’s Old Lost Love
Her Early Death By Malignant Brain Tumour
My Shower of Unintelligible Light
on March 31st, 1993
Brother’s Dying on a Jail-house Floor
or Years of Depression
with My Daughter’s Early Childhood Memories
of Her Mother Lying In Bed
or Hospitalized for Weeks On End
That Daughter has just finished
washing Her Boyfriend’s
Black Dodge Ram 1500
& It’s Drying
in Perfect
Sun
Joanna Gilman Hyde 