The Hawk Beach 2:57pm
My Father never had Me
or when He did
He pimped Me off
or felt the need
to collect Me from sleepless
hotel rooms —
His Best Hope for Me
(My Brother He had given up on)
was to say,
“You are in ‘Recovery'”
Well — if He could see Me NOW
down by The Guzzle
in The South Wind of July
sitting in The Sand of My Achievement
He might come down from Heaven
or where ever He ended up
and shake My Hand
and send Me on My Way
The Hawk Corner Room 2:22pm
I was A Child of Letters
Valentines to Grand Parents
folded-over butterfly stationary to A Canadian Boyfriend
round pink stationary to My Mother from My Father’s Farm
I wrote to The Rockland County Journal News
when I was eight going on nine
thanking The Valley Cottage Fire Department
for saving Our Woods from a children’s brushfire
a page of loose-leaf in The 5th Grade to My Father
telling Dad to pay Mom a hundred dollars
a page of loose-leaf in The 6th Grade to A Boy
Who ripped it in half
& into My Teens
to Cousins, Friends
Boys I went to bed with
or wanted to
I wrote letters
to Men in executive offices
in My Early Twenties
I wrote & I wrote
all My Life So Far
like magic I am A Woman of Letters
They have preceded Me
Up Here in My Beautiful Corner Room
looking out over The Atlantic Ocean
with My Husband home from work
& a claw-less Siamese
pawing at The Door
Joanna Gilman Hyde 