The Hawk Queen Bed 2:22pm
This Is Nova Scotia
Land O’ M’ Dreams
Where Anything Can Happen
Sea Salt Air Calls Me
Through The Crack In My Window
I Rise To Its Undulating Voice
Determined To Listen
The Hawk Queen Bed 10:22am
This Morning I Was Accompanied
By Luminous Silver From The Ocean
While I Made Our Second Cups Of Coffee
& Unloaded The Dishwasher
The Tomato-coloured Couch 9:45pm
I see You at the doors
to Sobey’s with Your Wife
I’m with My Husband —
I dodge across The Parking Lot
to The Cart Corral
with Its Yellow Sign:
In The Event Of An Emergency
Gather Here
I sit cross-legged on the pavement
below The Sign —
Do You Come Over To Me?
Does My Husband —
Or Does He Converse With Your Wife?
When & With Whom
Do I Lift My Arms
Up & Out To The Sides
As I Did In Your Presence On October 22, 1993
To Voice, Not For The First Time
I Am In A Spiritual Emergency?
The Hawk Corner Room 12:55pm
The Gulls Glint Silver
The Crows Are Silhouettes
I Look Out To The Hazy Blue Horizon
& Watch The Birds
As Symbols
Embedded In My Life
Of Perfection
The Hawk Queen Bed 10:22pm
What Is The Configuration
Of The Universe?
Is It Like A Balloon
With Us On The Surface
Or Is It A Sphere
Internally Filled —
Perhaps Expanding & Contracting?
Is It A Spiral
Lashing Out
Or A Doughnut
With No Center —
Is It A Drop Of Pond Scum
Or An Entire Sea
Floating In Our Minds?
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:45pm
We have one remaining black & white tuxedo cat
Who came from the wrong side of the tracks
scooped up one rainy night
as a case of mistaken identity
by My Son (Who thought He had Mumbo)
& was brought to Our Doom (typo I should keep)
in Shelburne
She, Swamp, with the dishevelled tail
She holds so high
now resides
in Our Hawk Dining Room
sitting up on The Marble-topped Table
amidst tarnished silver candle sticks —
She favours gazing out
The Big Arched Window
to The Sea
& taking Her Meals
alone
The Tomato-coloured Couch 6:55pm
I live a privileged life
with a daughter in The Caribbean
& a son out West —
My Family is taken care of
& I am secure in My Wind-proof House
with seven well-fed cats
& a candle on The Living Room Table
The Hawk West Desk Window 6:18pm
Out My Eastward Kitchen View
I See The Moon, Almost Full
Completed By its Halo
Glowing Through The Deep Blue
Of Sky & Water
–
Out My West
I Catch The Berry Pink
Of One Side Of The Sunset
As I Write
Before Re-checking
My Lunar Scape
& Finding There
The Ocean
Set Apart
By Its Dark, Even Sheen
The Hawk Queen Bed 8:30am
Oh Beautiful Bird
You Are A Song
To Me
Your Fair Mimicry
Has Shaped My Life
And I Carry Your Love
On A Silver Platter
Out Into The World
So That It, Too
May Receive The Grace
Of Your Delicate
Truth
Joanna Gilman Hyde 