Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Tag: existence

NEXT DAY

The Hawk Queen Bed 2:22pm

In Bed in lavish purple

bedding & robe & calico cat

window open to the spring

I sit This Afternoon

with My Worn Out Husband

on the remnants

of a stomach bug, He & I

reading financial reports

off His Nexus Tablet

& planning how He can keep

working, rowing

& feeding the cats

NAKED

The Hawk West Desk Window 8:30pm

There’s a man out of The Tub

Who doesn’t belong to Me

He’s My Husband in name only

& stands at My Side

to watch The Opalescent Sky

& The Sun go down

with Bands of Cloud

A PAIR OF WILLETS

The Hawk Queen Bed 8:57pm

Yesterday on The Trail

in Barrington Bay

I heard The Willets

The Sound of Childhood

in Jordan Bay

My Grandfather wrote

about The Willet’s song

in Anchorage Northeast:

“My own ear has seldom caught “Willet”

in the famous and far-piercing call.

To me it is pilly-will-wee,

with the accent on the last syllable,

or pill-wee-wee, with the accent

on the second,

in either case repeated over and over

and virtually always in flight.

It is a high, hurrying, questioning cry,

urgent of something I can only imagine,

a glad sound on the bird’s coursings of the shore,

a call of fulfillment(sic)

and the June-morning glory

of being alive and a-wing.”

Howard Talbot Walden 2nd

Anchorage Northeast p.189

GARBAGE

The Hawk Living Room 1:30pm

Is It Too Trite

to write about My Old Bike

getting thrown out in the trash

along with My Cross Country Skis

Eliza doesn’t want —

My Ex Husband called this morning

promting the question

does anybody still want

My Teal 3-Speed I got for My Thirteenth Birthday?

Eliza said “no” & I said

“Are You putting it out by the road

for somebody to take?”

I HAVE A MESSAGE

The Hawk Family Room 4:52pm

I Have A Message

fuelled by One Blonde Beer

sitting in A Brown Leather Swivel Chair

looking South Out A Double Window —

My Husband lists the unavailability

of Silver

by domestic bullion dealers

My Message Is:  Gather Your Wits

buy what You can of Grain

& Gold

& hold onto Your Children, Your House

Your Guiding Beliefs

let not the government

break down Your Door

WHAT HAPPENED?

The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:33pm

What happened to That Long-haired Girl

Who painted That Giant Canvas

Self Organizing Galaxy

on The Roof of #5 World Trade Center?

I heard She turned 52

& writes in Her Journal

sitting on Her Tomato-coloured Couch

in Her astral-cork-floored living room

surrounded by beaches & dunes

waves & bird life

while Her Son starts a tree-planting job out West

& Her Daughter finishes correspondence courses

for Her Last Year

of High School

BEFORE SLEEP

The Hawk West Desk Window 10:11pm

When My Husband Holds My Left Forearm

I Am In The Child’s Embrace

I Must Grow Up Into My Self

& Be The Woman Now

Without My Mother, The Single Parent

for I had no father

SMOOTHIE

The Hawk Family Room 4:49pm

My Daughter Eliza handed Me

the tail end of a smoothie

strawberry froth

lining the bottom of a glass

I slurped the remnants of berry seeds

and minuscule bubbles

leaving a spherical star-scape

tilted toward the sun —

a pink piece

of The Universal Puzzle

BODY STATISTICS

weight:  142 lbs. (can’t weigh 122 lbs. — that’s what Daughter weighs)

height:  5′ 4″

eyes:  blue

hair:  light brown — grown-out haircut

dress size:  8

bra size: 36B

shoe size:  7 1/2

ring size:  ?

Left Side:  receptive

Right Side:  giving

written in beam of light 19″ across

Moving From Right To Left

 

MY BIRTHDAY

The Hawk Kitchen 10:22am

I watch the thorough glitter

out on The Water

through The Window Screen

(it’s too windy to sit outside)

My Husband’s Blood Pressure

is precarious

making Me jittery

while He’s at work

refusing to see HIS Doctor