The Hawk Kitchen 9:22am
I Love My House
I am private here
public when I wanna be
I can have rye toast & marmalade
when Eliza takes the last banana
I can hang laundry in The Sun
& keep My Bathrobe on
The Hawk Deck 11:10am
I am married to A Very Handsome Doctor
even if He does have some age on Him
It adds to His Allure of Talk
on Occam’s Razor
I live in A Beautiful House By The Sea
& have all the breakfast supplies I need
a basement warehouse of foodstuffs & toilet paper
I have My Mother’s Play House on an island
& My Beautiful Daughter with Her Hot Shot Boyfriend
— He can finance A Mansion at the age of nineteen —
They’re already looking at House Plans
The Hawk Portico 5:55pm
I planned to sit down with My Daughter
to have a talk about Her Future
instead She showed Me Her Purchases
from Frenchy’s — designer 2nd hand —
& lovingly cradled Her Louis Vuitton
brown leather hand bag:
“I’ll never let anything happen
to this —
I’ll have It ’till I die
& I’m not joking”
I’m lying on My Tomato-coloured Couch
— did I say It’s very comfortable?
Looking up at My Crow Painting
— I need My Glasses —
The Living Room Window is Open
to The Southerly Waves
at My Head
with Eliza’s Horse Blanket
over The Rest
I turned on The Water
in what’s called Eliza’s Shower
& unbuttoned My LL Bean Rose Striped Linen Shirt
in The Mirror, Eliza’s Mirror
& took off My Grey Capris
which I have to throw out
because My Husband told Me
They go up The Crack of My Butt
I took off My Underwear
& tossed It in Eliza’s Laundry Basket
I took off My Unwieldy Bra
& hung It on a doorknob
How Long Is This Poem Going To Be?
I looked at My Body’s Profile
& decided if I look fat
I am probably about to get My Period
–
I stepped in behind The Curtain
The Stall was dirty
I put cleanser on a cleaning rag
I cleaned while The Spray was on Me
& rinsed The Tub
My Hair Was Wet
I squeezed out some Nizoral
Red In My Left Hand
& lathered My Hair
The Directions advise to leave It in
for 3-5 minutes
so I stepped back out
to look at My Watch
It told Me I was in The Twenty-second minute
OH! That’s When I Cleaned The Tub!
I cleaned The Tub & then Me
& rinsed My Hair
& got out
I towelled off in a clean towel
& took My Clothes
back to My Room
to put on Different Clothes
& Do You Know What I Put On?
I put on Black Underwear
My Black Push-up Bra
Black LL Bean Capris w/ Comfort Waist
Black Tank
Silver Earrings
Wedding Rings
Quartz Crystal & Diamond Question Mark Ring
& My Ladies Bulova Open-heart Watch
I bought for My Self
Dear Diary —
I watched Eliza
dab at Her Hair in The Dining Room Mirror
& realized “My Daughter Has The Power To Kill”
while I became immortalized
at the age of eighteen
by telling My Only Real Boyfriend:
“You’re Just Another Face, Another Dick”
The Fog has sunk
into My Left Shoulder
–I can’t do The Laundry–
–I shouldn’t even be writing–
Peak & Eliza have gone to Lunenburg
with Their Father & His Family
My Day Is Grey
but I’m OK–
isn’t that awful?
2 days ago
I dreamt of My Daughter
age 4
in a Red Velvet Dress
running across a field
to Me
laughing
I called out to a nearby friend
“I Made Her
including untidy & rude–”
Scooped Up My Beloved Child
& Kissed Her Red Left Cheek
–
Today I Hand Wash
Her Teenage Underwear
I Straighten Out Her Thongs
Hang Up Her Red Bra
On The Laundry Rack
To Dry In The Sun
“What’s a Woman like You
doing in a Place like This?”
–Camera View: from back of black oven
w/ Woman looking in
leaning on elbows
–View to rivet My eight-year-old frame:
Black w/ White Star Spatter
How am I Here in this Black Space?
Now white with tomato spatter
from Eliza
in The Microwave
Joanna Gilman Hyde 