The Hawk Dining Room 7:28pm
The Moon rose at supper
like a humanoid zygote
passing first through a layer of peach —
as the peach got pinker and pinker
The Moon got higher and higher —
Its fullness minus a day
glowed Its luminous face
to the solid bank of ocean
and to The Earthlings at Their Window
The Hawk Deck 9:03am
This has been The Place
of My Full Recovery
from My Mother’s Death
of more than Twenty Years
This is The Place of My Happiness and Joy
with Molten Silver on The Sea
Bird Life, Cat Life
My Life and My Husband’s
–
The Hawk Living Room Window 4:43pm
My Serenity Level
cannot be measured
there is no equipment
like The Blood Sugar Thing
there is only The Sun
streaming in over Me
as I sit on the end
of The Tomato-coloured Couch
with The Window open
airing in The Waves
from The Southern Tip
of The Hawk
The Hawk Kitchen 8:45am
How can I be depressed, even slightly
in My Beautiful Kitchen
with The Sun beaming in
& My Husband staying home from work
to be with Me?
–
9:40am
I have on My Thick Grey Robe
for comfort when I’m down
drinking a cup of tea
eking out the last of The Sun
–
The Hawk Portico 5:05pm
Low Blood Sugar or No Blood Sugar
(something’s wrong with the reader)
I’m in a mini depression
saved only by getting My Hair done
& sitting out here
on The Portico
in mild fall sun
the purging of waves
& the double squawk of a Jay
repeated on His Wire
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:42pm
20 years ago during My First Depression
I departed from The Pink Bedspread
of The Yarmouth Psychiatric Unit
to take some advantage
of an offered outing
in a hospital bus
to venture across
a high-grass board-walk
to nowhere
only to return to My Bedspread
which may well have been
Chrysanthemum Gold
The Hawk Deck
11:00 am
Eye am dressed in solid grey
& un-ironed white linen
sitting on The Deck, quiet
My Daughter, visiting from College
has just fed Gully
some old rice cakes
& The Crows are subdued
in the trifling fog
The Hawk Portico 10:34am
I just watched A Fly
sitting on My White Pyjama Shirt
rub His Back Legs together
& then extend His Back Right Leg
up & over the top of His Right Wing
presumably to clean It
twice
The Hawk Portico 9:11pm
I Am The Call
Of The Black Crow
Outside My Kitchen Deck
Insistent, Declarative
Hungry For Any Response
In The Awakening Distance
Of Our Waiting World
The Hawk Deck 4:11pm
If My Book were near Me
would I write?
Yes, I’ll go get It
& bring It outside
I thought, earlier
to write a poem titled
“What Is Depression?”
but all I could come up with
is It’s The Opposite
of what My Life is now —
One of fulfilment, contentment
& Big Ideas
to ground The Rest of The World
into Balance
Joanna Gilman Hyde 