The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:45pm
I’ve consulted an auctioneer
as to the possibility of selling off
My Family’s Letters, Memorabilia
Battles Between Offspring
& Every Valentine From 1947
to The Early 80’s
when My Grandparents Died —
but My Husband doesn’t think
I should
& My Daughter thinks
I wouldn’t get more than $20.00
The Hawk Family Room 4:44pm
According to My Perception
There Is No Such Thing
as an “illness”
Schizophrenia
The Schizophrenia Society is barking
up the wrong tree —
when My Brother received
His “diagnosis” at 21
that was the end of His Free Thinking
His Creative Mind Had Gone As Far
as society would let It —
at My Insistence
that My Brother didn’t “have” schizophrenia
My Father Francy declared:
“Well, Howard certainly has Something“
Yes, He Had A Creative Human Mind Influenced
By His Unique Perception
Rudder’s Yarmouth February 16th 6:00pm
I feel like a Little Girl
at a Valentine’s Birthday Party
with My Fake Margarita
sitting at My Table for One
I’m ready for Anything
The Musician has already been
acquainted:
“My Brother was a Musician
He played The Clarinet & Saxophone
— He’s dead now —
He lived in Yarmouth for quite a while”
“The Name Is Familiar “
I turned to My Club and Fries
and left early
for The Vagina Monologues
The Hawk Kitchen 4:25pm
The only two adolescent
car accidents
I was in
were with My Brother:
The First where I was driving
with a low rear tire I had neglected to fill
–it went flat on The Taconic
& Howard yelled “We’re On Ice!
Hit The Breaks!”
I listened & rolled Our Mother’s Volkswagon Squareback
into a cliff-side snow bank
and limped home with the spare put on
by kind fellow motorists
tutt-tutting about teenage drivers
The Second Howard was driving
when We were mistakenly headed
for The Holland Tunnel
so I directed My Brother to “Turn Here”
into a No U Turn
He listened
& pulled out into oncoming traffic
We got rear-ended
but were able to drive
His Baby Blue LTD home
I wrote a letter of apology
to the owner of the wrecked green Volvo
Who later said he had never
gotten a letter like that
The Hawk Deck 11:48am
My Brother had a Magic Pendant —
have I written of It before?
He asked It Yes or No
Questions
& told His Fortune
but We don’t have It now —
It was Our Mother’s —
heavy hand-wrought Silver
with A Bird on one side
Rose on the other
The Hawk Kitchen 5:00pm
What Is This Language
of What I Perceive?
A Crow alighting on a tree tip
then flying BACK
to where He came from
but that was a while ago
I hear The Fridge
I see The Silver on My Wrists
A Cat who’s very fat
is unable to clean Her Butt
I remember My Brother
gulping down pop or tea
as if He couldn’t get enough
I do the same
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 