Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Hawk West Desk Window 12:22pm

So This Is Nova Scotia

I’ve woken up in The Land of Dreams

to find I no longer belong

I have arrived at My Life’s Destination

& The Jays are telling Me

“Go Back, Go Back”

“What do You want to be

when You grow up?”

“I want to be a ballet dancer 

but I’ll probably be an artist”

I hold on tight to My Black Cat Astro

replacement for a beloved Tom

Who was the first creature

I ever grieved over

before My Mother Died

& I fell in love

with The Scripted Little Man

Who’s stayed with Me

in My Mind & Heart

for nearly 20 years

I must go back

to the capable kid I was

with paper route

and baby-sitting jobs

who knew She would be An Artist

Who was An Artist

painting giant canvases

& wowing art teachers

at Cooper Union

— if She could make it there

She could make it anywhere —

but She can’t go back

only forward

without the encumbrances

of Her Mother’s Estate

& The Doctor She Lives With

in a marriage based on His Reality