My Son & I
walked on The Hawk Beach
& talked of how humidity
can extend waves of sound
& how The Guzzle
could possibly have moved
from Its former sandy river bed
to parallel The Dunes
& how breeds of dogs
get bred for certain aspects
like liking water
or how foxes were bred
to be domesticated
& how Peak might get a dog
when He goes travelling
& have His Father or Me
look after It when He goes really far away —
My Son & I
Dear Diary —
I watched Eliza
dab at Her Hair in The Dining Room Mirror
& realized “My Daughter Has The Power To Kill”
while I became immortalized
at the age of eighteen
by telling My Only Real Boyfriend:
“You’re Just Another Face, Another Dick”
To Sing The Song of The Hummingbird
I write to say I Saw One Today
buzzing in Our bedraggled Apple
& finding Nothing There
buzzed away beyond The House —
I may never see Its Greenness again
What would Its sight portend?
–
I drove with Eliza
& Her First Serious Boyfriend Tyler
to La Creamy Treat in Pubnico
on The Highway Home
Two Flying Objects hit the wind shield
Eliza, driving, pronounced “I killed
Two Hummingbirds with One Car –”
Tyler, from The Back Seat
resolutely announced “I saved
A Hummingbird caught in a Spider Web”
What wonder in a flock of tweeting
twittering Birds overhead —
I heard Them coming before I saw Them —
They began to break up above Me
as I eagerly watched to see Them form Letters
of The Alphabet —
Letters maybe to divine a message
but how could I expect Those Birds —
that Body of Bird Life —
to know My Language?
These Are The Neighbourhood Sounds
Which Drive Me Off My Deck:
Lawnmowers
Weed Eaters
Auto Body Grinders
Skill Saws
Chain Saws
Various Hammerings
Is That Enough?
–
These Are The Sounds That Keep Me:
The Waves
The Surf
The Fog Horns
The Peepers
The Wind in The Leafy Hedge
The Birds — Jays, Crows, Gulls, Willets,
Mourning Doves, Robins, Grackles, Starlings, Warblers, Chickadees
Isn’t That Enough?
–
What do The Gulls think
when They eat a food They’ve never had —
like Spanish Rice and Sausage —
What do The Crows think?
The Fog has sunk
into My Left Shoulder
–I can’t do The Laundry–
–I shouldn’t even be writing–
Peak & Eliza have gone to Lunenburg
with Their Father & His Family
My Day Is Grey
but I’m OK–
isn’t that awful?
The Dishwasher is running again
& My Son Peter is with Me
from Montreal via Alberta
He’s a Tree-planting Crew Boss
finished with work for The Summer
now readying for school
in The Fall
The Fog Should Be Gone By Then
I am Singing The Praises
of being Peak’s Mother
& have just opened The Dishwasher Door
as It went on The Dry Cycle
When I was 17
I deliberately lost My Virginity
to a French Brooklyn Jew Drug Dealer
–He was 27–
So tonight I’m making home made Pizza
for Eliza & Her First Serious Boyfriend
Who’s just been met
in Port Clyde
by Father, Aunt & Uncle
& Grandparents
& after the Pizza
They’re driving to Yarmouth
to watch “Campaign”
while I run the Dishwasher
Joanna Gilman Hyde 