The Tomato-coloured Couch 1:11pm
I live with A Demon
of My Own Creation
caged above Me
in My Living Room
He is black & dirty
with giant bird shit
dripping off the upper right corner
of His Chicken Wire Cage
first laid across Him
on the 4th Floor
of Cooper Union’s Foundation Building
where He came to Life
never to speak — only to glare
with His Brilliant Eyes
down upon His Audience —
Yet Today He Speaks!
Through Me as I speak out
for The Creature of My Fierce Fear —
My Fear of being locked in
or up
or out
as I have been locked inside
psychiatric wards
for years on end
I am OUT NOW
& I can speak My Mind
no matter how It comes out
I AM BLACK JESUS — but
not because I am dressed in black
I AM BLACK JESUS — because
I can speak
for My Desperate Crow — d
Last Night I slept on The Hide-A-Bed
in Eliza’s Corner Room
My Husband was coughing badly
so I got up & out @ 11:00
to open The Hide-A-Bed
& make it up with cheap Egyptian sheets
& a satin cover I made in My First Marriage
never used
I pulled up the shade Eliza always has down
& lay on My Hide-A-Bed
looking up to The Sky
awash in star glitter
“I’m going into Barrington with Tyler”
“What for?”
“To watch The Fireworks at The Tree Lighting
— look what I’m wearing –“
“Let Me get My Glasses”
“My Burberry Scarf — don’t I look cute?
I look like a rich girlfriend
Who gets lots of nice
things”
I feel a momentary gladness
with a song I like on the radio
as I look out My Sliding Kitchen Doors
to The Full Clouds
illuminated by The Sun
in an opposite part of The Sky
Oh Luminous Cloud —
am I the only One Who sees You?
I watched Your Golden Aura fade
& then The Moon peeked out
from underneath
Your Grey Companions
The Hawk West Desk Window 9:45pm
Today I have a deal
to sell My Mother’s Grave
That Place She Loved So Dear
is going off to a professional couple
with twelve children
between Them
The Hawk West Desk Window 8:00am
There’s a Picture somewhere
of My Mother’s outboard The Molly
resting at anchor in a pool of faded pink
It must be down in the basement
here at The Hawk
what will I think
when I see It again?
The Hawk Portico 2:53pm
I Open Doors
I Close Doors
I Open Another Door
I Close That Door
I Am An Owner of Cats
composed by WHB
Joanna Gilman Hyde 