The Hawk West Desk Window 9:55am
Before The Dawn
Of Our New Era
We Are On The Cusp of Night
We Are Silver Now
As The Moon
As The Midnight Hour
Of Transformation
From The Golden Sun
Into That Precious Rarity:
Our Star-patterned
Future
The Hawk Living Room 4:30pm
A new arrangement of paintings
builds a triangle upon My Living Room Wall:
My Mother’s Portrait as a very young woman
painted by My Uncle
dresses the wall below My Balcony
hanging in the middle
above two impressionist paintings
of Africa — She took Me
as an infant to grow there
in Gabon and came home
with these two paintings
I framed in art school —
one showing a grass-roofed hut
palm trees with seated figure —
the other showing four bark canoes
and two figures readying them
in the foreground of open water
and open sky —
My First Year In Africa
She called The Worst Year
of Her Life — spent insomniac
underweight, pregnant
with My Fated Brother —
Africa inspired Her Novel
NOT EVEN THE MOON
never published —
Her Portrait looks down
to those two African paintings
and I look up to all three
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 4:30pm
Today I watched The Beautiful Cashier
get out of Her Car
at The Little Store where She works
for a longer stretch than other
pretty girls — this One is magnificent:
an alabaster face
set with well-formed eyes
graced by a distinctive nose
She wears Her Hair loose over one shoulder
sporting Her High School Sweater
She beautifies Her Station
of lottery tickets
& vegetable scale
doing Her Job with a shy appearance
making You shy too
Barrington Passage, NS 3:30pm
EYE have a piece
of The Night Sky
on My Right Middle Finger
My Trigger Finger
with The Silver Emblem
of a curve-sided diamond —
EYE am out
to make the sturdiness
of M(EYE) Self
Timeless
The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:12pm
I have just spent an hour at least
shielding My Eyes from the sun
to watch a flock of Starlings
starting in Our Yard —
heading across the street
in elongated splashes of sparkle
every time They took off —
and matted together on either
roof lines, grass or wires
in Their elusive group-think
I would give anything
to know
The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:46pm
How dare they try
to count The Stars
by saying every one
is just a speck of sand
on all The World’s Beaches
— if that is the case
I have just traversed
trillions on My Walk
to The Guzzle Rock
covered in barnacles —
should I count them too?
The Hawk Kitchen 12:25pm
Stuck inside a snow globe
looking through Her Sliding Glass Doors
to The Ferocity of Earth
laid out before
Her Feet
seen from above
— or any angle for that matter —
She has six cats
two grown children
two husbands under Her Belt —
She dashes off poetry
as if The World
is All Hers
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 7:55am
When I woke this morning
the sky was reddish gold
purple cloud over the sun now
but I have the trash out
& the coffee steeps
Last night I told My Hair to grow
while I sleep
& It has
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 3:42pm
Oh Hair Grow
when I inhale the fur
of My Big Black Astro
Oh Hair when I cut You off
22 years ago
how could I have known
I would have the love for You
that I do now?
You would be My Greatest Comfort —
I will gleefully brush You
braid You, pin You decoratively
care for You with balsamic solutions —
every follicle I own on My Head
please be rejuvenated and never
turn back to the darkness
of severity of Truth —
I want to live My Dream
& My Dream is You flying,
whipping Your Golden Fabrication
around My Shoulders
protecting Me as a mantel
of Hope & Love
for This World
of Happiness
We need so badly
The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 4:16pm
I will wear My Hair
in a braid at My Side
an appendage of strength
never to be pulled in jest
held in place by coloured bands
complimenting My Face
decorating My Self
for the admiration
of women as well
as men
Joanna Gilman Hyde 