Joanna Gilman Hyde

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Tag: daughter

February 18, 2013

MOTHER, IT’S YOU

The Hawk Kitchen 6:35pm

Mother, It’s You

My Kitchen Witch

hanging above The Kitchen Phone

for the first time

since moving to The Hawk

It’s Your Caricature

drawn by Hardy Bulbs ’66

“The Perennial Phlox At Home”

I would have been Five

when Your Surrounding Book Titles

were dreamt up:

Flames of Passion

My Life & Loves — Frank Harris

Forever Amber

Passion & Greed (A Cookbook) Farmer

Lady Loverly’s Chatter

Slang Dictionary

The Passionate Lips

Hungry Hill

Fanny Hill

Candy (& How To Make It)

Naked Lunch (Cookbook)

The Lustful Heart

Passion’s Slave

Lustful Lips

The floral stockings You were wearing

I remember

You were My Great Mother

& I Am Proud

To Be Your Daughter

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February 18, 2013

DAUGHTER, IT’S TIME

The Hawk Kitchen 2:22pm

Daughter, It’s Time

to hang Your Red Roses

upside down to dry

It’s Time to Preserve

Their Message

of Love & Devotion & Faith

from The Young Man

Who has You

for Now

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February 14, 2013

VALENTINE

The West Desk Window 11:26pm

I have been arranging My Daughter’s Roses

for years it seems

at least since We moved to The Hawk

when bouquets started coming through the front door

from boyfriends and mothers

— some ended up dried

to be arranged again in fake crystal

or an old pewter pitcher —

tonight the heftiest bunch of all

came in with fluid-providing tubes

& baby’s breath to be thrown away

as I clipped twelve stems

stood Them in My heaviest vase

& carried The Arrangement

upstairs to Her Dresser

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February 7, 2013

WHAT HAPPENED?

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:10pm

What happened to The Effervescent Girl

of Yesterday

Who willingly drove into Shelburne

for lunch & coffee

with Her Daughter

dressed — The Effervescent Girl —

care-free in Her LL Bean Jeans & Blouse

delivering Her Daughter’s grad photo

to be framed

What happened to make today come

where She finds Her Self

tired & sullen

dressed again in black

to drive to Yarmouth

for Her Husband’s CT Scan

to come home to a trapped cat

Who’s made an unwashable mess

on Eliza’s comforter?

 

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February 5, 2013

SITTIN’ PRETTY

The Hawk Corner Room 4:52pm

My Parents have put Me here

really sittin’ pretty

in My Grey Bath Robe

— never dressed today —

— only showered —

padding around in white socks

to settle before My Immaculate View

of Ocean & Sky & occasional long white wave

–

Yes, if it weren’t for My Parents

would I be Here at all?

Tomorrow will be the first anniversary

of My Father’s Quiet Death

March 31st will be the twentieth

of My Mother’s skull-shattering

Expiration

–

and I am left

in the care of My Doctor/Husband

A Man My Mother never met

A Man My Father said would grow too old

–

Yes, I’m sittin’ pretty

in a Present to die for

My Future to live

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February 5, 2013

HONOUR?

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:15am

Both My Parents

have not died

for Me

Oh, They’re gone al-right

I just don’t feel Their Absence

It’s as if They never existed

except as Minds

in My Mind

before Me

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February 1, 2013

ALLEGIANCE

The Hawk Corner Room 12:15pm

I Stand At Attention

with The Ocean View before Me

with The Picture of My Mother’s Face

wearing only Her Orange Lipstick —

Her Heavy-lidded Eyes

Green and Happy —

I Am Here because of Her

and My Arrival has taken

Eons

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January 20, 2013

THE RAINBOW ROOM

The Tomato-coloured Couch 8:10pm

My Mother sat in Her brown & gold

champagne bubble evening dress

empire-waisted

listening to Her clarinet-playing married Lover

in The World’s Greatest Jazz Band —

I stayed baby-sat

until

Her Bubble Burst

upon My nine-year-old shoulders

The Christmas I begged

for a pair of green & red

Love Birds

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January 8, 2013

DIRECTIONS

The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:33pm

How not to change lives & still sleep

in 3 easy steps:

1) Buy 22 Bars of Silver & lock Them in The Bank

2) Don’t buy a funny-shaped House on The Hawk

to rent to Kristine Zoodedoo

or Hunter’s Secretary

Who said She would move to The Hawk

like a tornado

3a) Don’t ask Your Daughter repeatedly

for Her Opinion on kitchen design features

3b) Eat left-over macaroni

& drink plenty of water out of the tap

of Your Tawdry Fridge

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January 7, 2013

CLOSURE

The Hawk West Desk Window 7:22pm

I was just about to phone My Father

when I remembered He’s dead

to tell Him I signed off today

on My Mother’s Island House —

both My Parents are dead —

My Father by eleven months

My Mother by twenty years

I am NOT alone

Oh, and My Brother was killed

in the interim

BUT I AM NOT ALONE

I have My House By The Sea

furnished with new flooring picked out

a devoted and hard-working Husband

(I may not be able to make Him retire)

My Daughter with Her College picked out

and Her Boyfriend I would marry

(which is what My Mother did to Me)

I am NOT alone

I have E.S.P.

 

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