The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:06pm
I hear the wind howling
how can I tell The World
“I Am The Second Coming Of Christ?”
WRITE IT, It Howls
through the electrical lines
across the shore line —
Black Jesus & The Silver Christ
They are My Friends
maybe more complicated
than Your Basic 2nd Coming
but I can explain Them —
I can explain It All
in terms of The Expression
of Humanity gone
to Its Farthest Reach —
The Reach To God
within The Self
— as The Self
The Hawk Dining Room 1:30pm
When I happen to see A Single Wave
breaking outside My Dining Room Window
can It possibly know
The Impact is has upon Me
even for The Day?
The Hawk West Desk Window 10:22am
I Am In The Shower
I Will Never Get Out
Should The Time Come To Towel My Self Off
The Glittering Droplets
Will Stay —
I Will Yell Forever More:
“Oh My God, Oh My God
OH MY GOD!!”
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:00pm
As I open My iridescent purple journal
printed with jewels
I have come to this place
where I am happy, fulfilled, & satisfied
despite the contradictory phraseology
pronounced severely over ten years ago
by My Psychiatrist (one of fourteen)
when I was insisting
I was The Second Coming of Christ:
“Joanna, You have so much going for You —
You’re intelligent, talented, beautiful
& This Idea is Wrecking Your Life.”
Then, less than two weeks later
from My Doctor Who became My Second Husband:
“–Joanna, You’re intelligent, talented, beautiful
You have so much going for You
I don’t see why you cling to This Idea –”
but cling to It I did
for twenty years now
& look where It has gotten Me
The Hawk Window Seat 10:00am
This morning I told The Carpenters
“I have a Sleep Disorder — that’s why
I’m always in My Bathrobe –”
It’s true, It’s not a lie
or an exaggeration
I have to get My Eight Hours
uninterrupted
or I’m
shot
The Hawk Queen Bed 8:00am
When I left My Children’s Father
fourteen years ago in June
I left My Clothes in Atlantic
I left The Pets
I left My Share of The Atlantic House
I left money in a joint bank account
I left two enormous pieces of furniture
The Secretary & High Boy inherited from The Woman I was named after —
I left Them in The Divorce Papers for Peak & Eliza
I had to leave My Kids
because I couldn’t take care of Them
The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:15pm
We are driven on a cellular level
snaking our way in vehicular shells
out of Our Homes over The Highways
to restaurants & shopping centres
where the precious sight
of one Left Female Hand is held
by a boyfriend’s across a table
while She texts with availability of Right Thumb
next My Daughter breaks into tears
in the kitchen isle of Wall Mart
when I hedge on buying new plates
because I fail to see any
I like
& settle for 2 boxes of 16 piece Zen Plum
glaze-crazed
in the Light
of My Kitchen
The Hawk Queen Bed 9:11am
I want to go to sleep
with the wind
up in My Turret
at the end of twenty years —
I want to sleep to seventy
& wake up to the noon
of My Old Age
no longer marred
Joanna Gilman Hyde 