The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:45pm
Long ago & far away
I was housed in a place
I did not want to be
I did not want to be
& so I was stationed
in an artificial unit
of nurses, doctors & cafeteria food
for weeks at a time
yet I have no memory of what day
or year, I got out
it doesn’t really matter
that I cannot recall
the end of that terrible time —
all that matters now
is that I am happy
& I DO want to live —
My Life is full
in This Glorious Place
The Hawk Basement 11:22am
“World, You Can Save Your Self —
You Are Programmed To Survive —
Your Mountains Will Stand —
Your Oceans Will Thrive —
Your People Will Laugh
— Die Laughing —
World, You Are My Home”
The Hawk Outpost 9:06am
The Glistening Light
Listens To Me
As If I Could Say A Prayer
For The Whole World
The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:22pm
My House is Asylum
My Hands offer Asylum
when placed upon
any body in pain
in fear
In My House, with My Hands
I can cast out
suffering
I can deliver
My Power
into The Hands
of Another
I have The Power
to Heal
I can Heal
My Friends
I can Heal My
Husbands
My Lovers
through
My Dead Brother
& The Deaths of
My Parents
I am Emboldened
I can Heal
This World
through My Art
& My Mind
I can Instruct
Nourish
Tone Down
Play Up
Send Every Body
Home
The Tomato-coloured Couch 8:11pm
Doctors & Nurses are The Stewards
of The Dying
& when The Dying finally
Die
The Dead get off easy
(as My Daughter said)
Joanna Gilman Hyde 