The Hawk Kitchen 10:38am
A single splash of spray
out My Kitchen Window
evokes a silent prayer
that I may find relief
in The Changing of Hands
of My Mother’s Island Property —
a property I could never see
as My Own —
even if Peak or Eliza
had It — It would still be
My Mother’s
The Hawk Red Deck Chair 12:15pm
Oh My God! — That’s My Mother
Telling Me To Write This Poem
— It’s The Chickadees
flitting around The Scraggly Apple
telling Me to write down
what I did one Christmas
in Cooper Union —
I asked My Unmarried Economics Teacher
to be a Christmas Present
for My Mother
& He said Yes!
so I wrote Mom a note
for Christmas Morning
that a Man was coming to visit
He came to Christmas Dinner
in Valley Cottage
— My Grandfather was there too —
now Pappy, The Teacher, My Mother, My Brother
are all dead
but The Chickadee-dee-dees
are alive
& chirping
Joanna Gilman Hyde 