The Hawk Dining Room 9:26pm
The Sky Is Leaded Silver
The Ocean Molten
After The First Snowfall
Of Any Import
My Car Is Facing East
To Melt The Remainder
Of What I’ve Brushed
Ready To Go Mail
My Son’s Birthday Card
The Hawk West Desk Window 1:22pm
He can’t feed Himself
anymore
The Nurses have to spoon-feed
His Soft-food Diet
and water or apple juice
with a thickening agent
and change His Diaper
The Doctor says:
“There’s nothing We can do now
but make Him
comfortable”
The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:45pm
I have delivered A Prayer
— The First I’ve Ever Written —
through The Sacred Postal Service
but I don’t know how
My Children’s Grandfather
will receive It
The Hawk Deck 3:00pm
What Is In My World?
My Devoted Husband, soon-to-be-retired
My Darling Daughter, still up in the air
as far as school goes
My Children’s Grandfather languishing
in the little local hospital
under the care of Dr David H. Wilson
and so the perpetual ocean waves
draw Me in
The Tomato-coloured Couch 10:22pm
I wore a necklace of shells
My Father sent from Africa
when I was four
She — My Daughter — wore
Her Dress Of Silver — size 2
shaped like a mermaid
& visited Her Other Grandfather
in The Hospital —
He said
“You Look Like A Fish”
The Hawk Deck 3:00pm
Contemplating The Horizon Blue
punctuated by a roofer’s gun
I’m in a quandary
far from true
of whether My Visit Here is done
My Visit with My Ex Father-in-law
may have ended too
when I said to Him, just for fun
“I’ll always kiss Good-bye to You
now that We’re on better terms”
& now if That Mo should die
would I see Him Through?
The Hawk Deck 10:05am
There may be only so much
I can write about birds
bird life & song
the lull of the waves
has made Me strong
but I must wait
for the outcome
of a medical concern
involving My Children’s Grandfather
Joanna Gilman Hyde 