Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Tag: depression

September 17, 2013

FLIRTATION

The Hawk Kitchen 8:45am

How can I be depressed, even slightly

in My Beautiful Kitchen

with The Sun beaming in

& My Husband staying home from work

to be with Me?

–

9:40am

I have on My Thick Grey Robe

for comfort when I’m down

drinking a cup of tea

eking out the last of The Sun

–

The Hawk Portico 5:05pm

Low Blood Sugar or No Blood Sugar

(something’s wrong with the reader)

I’m in a mini depression

saved only by getting My Hair done

& sitting out here

on The Portico

in mild fall sun

the purging of waves

& the double squawk of a Jay

repeated on His Wire

3 Comments
September 16, 2013

LOW BLOOD SUGAR?

The Hawk Living Room 5:42pm

A Peculiar Fatigue

has come over Me today

I lay on the couch

underneath Eliza’s Horse Blanket —

I see it now, cast off

dangling one corner

down the side of the couch

signifying the old depressions

but I am grown up now

they cannot get Me

no matter how tired I get

 

2 Comments
September 14, 2013

THE OUTING

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:42pm

20 years ago during My First Depression

I departed from The Pink Bedspread

of The Yarmouth Psychiatric Unit

to take some advantage

of an offered outing

in a hospital bus

to venture across

a high-grass board-walk

to nowhere

only to return to My Bedspread

which may well have been

Chrysanthemum Gold

Leave a comment
August 5, 2013

ON THE PSYCH WARD

The Hawk West Desk Window 8:51pm

I had to line up at 9:00pm

for My “Meds”

with monotonous regularity

during My Confinement(s)

where My “Activity Level” was marked

“O” on a big white bulletin board

& all I could do to occupy My Self

was write in My Diary

never finish a jigsaw puzzle

& put up signs in My Room

stating “I Am The Figurative Christ”

& “I Am Starving (literally) for Somebody

Nobody Knows” — name spelled out on sign —

(They made Me take the signs down)

 

Leave a comment
August 3, 2013

AFTER RUDDER’S

Yarmouth, NS 8:30pm

I saw that institutional building

in the sunset haze

over Yarmouth Harbour

perhaps for the last time

— Oh how I can taste being entrenched there

“Patient X”

a basket case

“with delusional aspects”

Who wouldn’t eat

for years it seemed

yet turning out of Yarmouth

a pink ray fell upon My Page

3 Comments
July 30, 2013

BOOK II

PLEASANT THINGS TO DO*

Things To Do On Your Own

Write a letter to a friend

Write in your diary

Play a computer game

Play a musical instrument or sing

Paint, draw, or do some pottery

Do some woodwork

Do a jigsaw puzzle

Read your favourite magazine, newspaper, or novel

Buy or make a present for someone

Look through your favourite photo album

Play a card game (e.g., solitaire)

–

Things To Do Around The House

Gardening

Do some handiwork around the house

Rearrange the furniture

Sewing, knitting, listen or dance to  music

Watch short TV shows

Play with your pets

Sit in the sun

Make a cake

–

Social Activities

Phone or visit a friend

Invite a friend over for a video and popcorn

Prepare a special meal for friends or family

See a play or movie

Pamper self — visit restaurant or hairdresser or masseuse

–

Active Things

Go for a stroll, brisk walk, or nature walk

Run up and down stairs for a few minutes

Do 10 minutes of gentle stretching exercises

Play ping-pong or tennis, golf, swim, bike

Do some aerobics or weight lifting

Visit a museum, art gallery, book-store or library

Visit the zoo

–

* From The Canadian Network of Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT)

 

10 Comments
May 30, 2013

ATLANTIC

The Tomato-coloured Couch 12:15pm

This Morning My Daughter reported waking

to the song of multitudinous bird-life

the dehumidifier tray was full

but She had no hot water

in The Atlantic House —

My First Marital Home

with Eliza’s Father

Who picked the colours

& built an addition

complete with screened-in porch

off Our New Bedroom

I sat out there in the shelter of the screens

in My Post-Mother’s-Death Depression

& wondered, along with everyone else,

why I was not happy

1 Comment
April 28, 2013

THE GREY-ROBED FIGURE

The Hawk Deck NOON

The Grey-robed Figure

spirited out of bed at 11:00

takes Her Tea out to The Deck

assesses Her Timing

of This Morning’s Flirtation

with Depression

marked by Her Son’s Imminent Departure

for which She is cancelling

The Last Supper

Leave a comment
April 23, 2013

LULL

The Tomato-coloured Couch 8:25pm

In The Mid-nineties

I lay in bed for weeks

unbathed

wanting to die

not caring for my family

— why write it here —

here where I am happy & satisfied?

because I am in a lull

& I don’t have My Two-year-old Daughter

tearing covers off Me

insisting, “Mom — get up —

Yer Starvin'”

4 Comments
February 25, 2013

FEELING

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:22pm

When The Depression finally broke

I was sitting on the back stoop

of The Shakespeare House

— can’t remember the year —

drinking seltzer & red wine

reading Gogol’s Diary of A Madman

Leave a comment