The Hawk Queen Bed 8:08am
My Husband’s is A Seductive Hand
A Doctor’s Hand
A Hand Of Comfort
He wraps His Fingers
around My Wrist
& gropes Them gently
up and down My Own
leaving Me only
to turn a page
on His Kindle
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:41pm
My Husband has given up
on trying to talk any sense
into Me.
He claims He no longer has any opinion
on what psychiatric diagnosis
might be responsible for My Skewered Reality.
He claims He will never speak again
of His Theory as to why I latched on
to a Little Scottish Doctor four days after
My Mother Died:
His Fifteen-year-old Theory that I had a symbiotic relationship
with My Mother, transferred onto The Little Man.
That My Husband may never discuss this subject again
should be a relief to Me
yet I find My Self in the foulest of moods.
Maybe I am getting
a menopausal period.
The Tomato-coloured Couch 8:15pm
Hunter has a bunch of red roses
& He’s at work tonight
He’ll see them when He gets home
He’ll see them in a lime-green glass juice pitcher
— for want of a sizeable vase —
here they are in the living room
they’re beautiful — full & unmarked
with His Birthday Card from This Morning
standing open
The Hawk Living Room 3:11pm
Guess how old I was
when I engaged
in the following activities:
–
Tearing into strips
the striped vinyl cover
to My Dollies’ changing table
& wadding the shreds
up in My Fists
to stuff in My Mother’s
waste paper basket
–
Clutching Two Hundred Wedding Photos
to My Chest & throwing Them
One By One
to The Night
along the ample length
of water frontage
in the Town of Shelburne
–
Emptying The Entire Contents
of My Second Husband’s Brief Case
cradling The Papers in My Arms
casting Them aside
Piece By Piece
into The Twilight
along one mile of old rail road track
through Barrington Passage
–
On a clear day in June
Shredding Five Known Copies
of My Own Manuscript
So Long Sam
taking seven hours
consuming as many beers
& putting Three Bags Full
out by the side of the road
The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:00pm
He tagged Me a “Seer”
& leapt upon Me
when I aspired toward God —
He made Me fall in love
lasting through two decades
through two husbands
both of whom
cannot understand
The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:00pm
I am The Girl Who’s
had Every Advantage
even when the heel broke
off My Glass Slipper
I arrived unscathed
from an orgy of Champagne
in the back of a Limousine —
too bad I don’t remember
The Home Stretch
Joanna Gilman Hyde 