Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Tag: nova scotia poet

February 14, 2013

VALENTINE

The West Desk Window 11:26pm

I have been arranging My Daughter’s Roses

for years it seems

at least since We moved to The Hawk

when bouquets started coming through the front door

from boyfriends and mothers

— some ended up dried

to be arranged again in fake crystal

or an old pewter pitcher —

tonight the heftiest bunch of all

came in with fluid-providing tubes

& baby’s breath to be thrown away

as I clipped twelve stems

stood Them in My heaviest vase

& carried The Arrangement

upstairs to Her Dresser

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February 14, 2013

WHAT IS MY MATURITY LEVEL?

The Arms & Hands of The Hawk Occupant 1:22pm

He’s going away again

for the 3rd monthly segment since November

to The Dominican Republic

& I’m not allowed to miss His Proximity

I’m instructed to use mental telepathy

instead I’m dressed to Kill

in a Black & Aqua Patterned Super Hero Top I’ve never worn

in My Black Leggings & Black Ankle Boots

Black Socks & Black Underwear

Silver Fish earrings given to Me

by My Aunt Angie on My 31st Birthday

My Birks Endless Silver Spiral Bangle

Dark Lipstick

I could Kill

with A Word

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February 13, 2013

ENITNELAV

Rudder’s Yarmouth 3:47pm

He carries Me like Christ

He goes before Me on Highways

in traffic tie-ups

I hear His Word

against any bad decision

on My Part

He is embodied

embedded

in My (——-)

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February 12, 2013

JOURNAL ENTRY

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:00pm

“Maybe He has carried You far enough”

“But He will carry Me for The Rest of My Life”

“You are happy, now, where You are”

“Are You trying to tell Me to get rid of Him?”

“No, but just keep Him In Reserve”

“Yes, maybe I can do that.  He needn’t be

in the forefront of My Mind”

“He needn’t be in the forefront

of The World”

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February 12, 2013

ARE YOU ALL SILVERED OUT?

The Hawk Kitchen 11:11am

Those *2* Giant Blocks

of Rectangular Silver

Came Crashing Down

on My Miles of Silver Duct Tape

on My Miles of Watery Plastic Sheeting

on My Ten-thousand Square Feet of Dacron Canvas

laid out, smoothed out

weighed down by 400 Sand Bags

Painted for Thousands of Office Workers

It was My

Self Organizing Galaxy

It All Came Crashing Down

in Zillions of Silver Streaks

on My Head on The Afternoon of March 31st, 1993

I have been crawling out ever since

note:  title from WHB

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February 11, 2013

A CHILD OF LETTERS

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

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February 10, 2013

SERVER NOT FOUND

February 9th The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:58pm

The Internet is down

with a Red Exclamation Mark

notifying This Account

of no connection

I am connected

I am tuned in

on My Island attached

by a flooded causeway

to the rest of The Province

to the rest of The World

I could be, am I?

That Server

–

February 10th The Hawk Corner Room Noon

Can You make a poem

out of a News Report

of an eleven-year-old Boy

killed by carbon monoxide poisoning

while a Father shovelled snow

a Son kept warm

by an idling engine?

–

1:00pm

I could be that Determined Girl

Who shut Her Self in Her Room

stared at Her Self in Her Dresser Mirror

until The Glaring Face

moulded It Self into distorted patches

of brooding dark hues

I could have a lock-in

a lock-down

with the radio on for music

but not for News

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February 8, 2013

KEEPING HOUSE

The Hawk West Desk Window Noon

Dust Balls — mostly fine cat hair —

gather up in My House

like Galactic Formations

always in the same places

though I just found

a New One

looking like a Chickadees’s Nest

below My Husband’s bedside table

where I stood

to fold His Laundry

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February 7, 2013

WHAT HAPPENED?

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:10pm

What happened to The Effervescent Girl

of Yesterday

Who willingly drove into Shelburne

for lunch & coffee

with Her Daughter

dressed — The Effervescent Girl —

care-free in Her LL Bean Jeans & Blouse

delivering Her Daughter’s grad photo

to be framed

What happened to make today come

where She finds Her Self

tired & sullen

dressed again in black

to drive to Yarmouth

for Her Husband’s CT Scan

to come home to a trapped cat

Who’s made an unwashable mess

on Eliza’s comforter?

 

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February 7, 2013

WHERE ARE WE?

The Hawk Corner Room 10:07am

Where are We

when

a seven-year-old boy

gets suspended

for throwing a pretend grenade

into “a box of evil forces”

when

this same planet

condones & finances

war?

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