is the 31st anniversary
of My Marriage
to The Father of My Three Children —
and a Good Father He is.
It was a day like today:
Still, Hot and Sublime
How Do You Get To Be Anything
Without Being A Wanna-be?
NOTE: Eye am already
everything I have ever
wanted to Be —
except a helicopter pilot —
not YET
In My Favourite Restaurant
Eye overheard The Waiter
Talking to The Cook:
“How can You have time
for God and Your Wife?”
Eye called out from My Booth:
“What if God and Your Wife
are One and The Same?”
I
He used to say:
“I love Your Toes –”
and didn’t know why
so nobody knows
II
He once wrote:
“I love You to distraction –”
It came at a time
when I was a fraction
of My Former Self
at His Behest
when We were installed
as His Daughter’s Guests
III
Her voice rang clear
the morning We left:
“You don’t give a fuck
about your grandchildren — ”
and so goes My Quest
for compensation regarding My Past
twenty years of seclusion by Him —
He Who assured Me
He never would fail
to deliver support
if I fell off The Rail
which I did once or twice
(but not into His Arms)
though I stayed as His Wife
and buttered His Charms
IV
It’s over now —
I’m cutting My Loss
of One Child’s Silence
I am willing to toss
to remain in My Stead
I ask to be free
of The Bonds of This Marriage
strung on The Cross
I have been embraced
by a high white Baptist Church
and let go
like a helium balloon
by the ties
of my mother’s death
The Hawk Corner Room approx. 1:40pm
EYE have held
The Most Precious
of Life’s Juice
in M(EYE) Left Palm
& IT was The Colour
of Today’s First Snow
in Antioch Illinois
The Hawk Corner Room 1:50am
EYE salute The New Corners
of M(EYE) House —
From Eliza’s Bed I face The West
Head On
and span My Naked Wrists across
The Globe
with no lint, loose strings or cat hair
galaxies
allowed
The Hawk Deck 10:17am
I stood on an August Deck
of The Yarmouth Ferry to Maine
with The Man I was to marry
— this was thirty years ago —
I told Him I was very happy
— He said He was too —
We had Our Nova Scotia Life
spread out before Us:
restoring an enchanting house
having Our First Baby
Our Son Peak
— The Core of My Family Unit —
to have and to hold for five years
until My Mother got sick and died
and I was no longer the same.
–
This August 31st
I stood again with Them
at The House No Longer Lived In
and They didn’t want Me to leave.
Peak’s Father gave Me
an unsolicited hug
and My Grown Son
looked at Me
half-smiling
wondering if I would stay.
The Hawk Well 4:45pm
Royal Red followed Me
through My Sleep
from Whitehorse
to the bottom of My Deepest Well
— through a blackout
@ 2:00 am
which had Me in My PJs
in The Morning Light
looking down
and down
with a bucket
on The Longest Rope
in The World
tipped with bricks
unsuccessfully
until EYE used My Mother’s Method:
drop The Bucket
upside down
straight
and haul up
The Entire Line
of Humanity
Joanna Gilman Hyde 