Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Tag: poetry

CEREMONY

August 17, 2013 Highway 103 NS 4:32pm

We are Our Respective Cells

on homing instinct

still in party clothes

from a High Anglican Wedding

complete with incense and bells

The Bride was beautiful

The Groom long & lean

on Their Ways to PhD’s at Cambridge

after Honeymooning in Cape Breton

WHB

August 16, 2013 The Atlantica, Halifax NS 6:40pm

I have a beautiful Man

Silver-haired

bare-chested in My King-size Bed

playing with His Tablet

while Room Service

brings Me 20 ounces of Stella Artois

& tries not to look

ACCOMMODATING GHOSTS*

August 16, 2013 The Atlantica, Halifax NS 6:30pm

Walking past the fenced-in grave yard

in the dead-centre of town

I smelled the distinct smell of pot

wafting through the tombstones

& lush vegetation

I heard a precise “Fuck You”

& kept walking

After buying this hand-made journal

I passed a seated smoking figure

Female — heaving silhouetted

smoke straight out in front of Her

in the direction of a Comrade

Who parked His Car

& asked for a light

*title from My Mother who wrote a short story by this title about “Them Old Fellers” in the house on McNutt Island

 

VIEW TO THE SOUTH

The Hawk Window Seat 8:40pm

The Sky is half pink

half silver grey

with A Three-quarter Moon

above The Lighthouse

glinting through The Scrub Spruce

to My Bedside

MY LAP

The Hawk Portico 5:30pm

I make My Lap

available to cats

& men

but only for short

periods of time

I invariably get up

to write

or wash dishes

or to get a sweater

if it’s windy

then I sit down

& cross My Legs

again

 

NINE YEARS

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:05pm

I know what The Honour is

in being Doctor Blair’s Wife

for Nine Years today

Have I gotten over Our

less-than-perfect wedding

into the routine of laundry

& dinner

bedtime reading?

He holds My Left Wrist

& that’s when I love Him

THE ISLAND

The Hawk West Desk Window August 13, 2013 11:19pm

I no longer think of The Island

as the insular respite I shared each summer

— shared as a pair of stalwarts

as I did with My Mother —

I now think of the broad expanse

of Nova Scotia imperialized

by Its undulating shoreline

to The South

housing Me now

permanently

on an island

off an island

and beyond

LOOK OUT

The Hawk Living Room 5:15pm

I can let the axe fall

on anyone:

husband

mortgagee

friend —

but not child

for a child

I have all praise

and sympathy

children are growing

into falsehood

and where innocence remains

I have unconditional love

KNOW THYSELF

The Hawk Living Room 3:17pm

My Seething Insides

can be delved into

examined under glass

for the purpose

of Human Kind

I am One Example

of The Seven or more

Billion Specimens

here for the purpose

of knowing

Themselves

as They would know

God

SHADES OF GREY

The Hawk West Desk Window 8:11pm

Since I Named My Car

Gun Metal Grey

Let Me Write

Of The Varieties

Of That Colour —

First Off — Is It

A Colour?

Is It Simply Black Fused With White

Or Does It Have Substance

Like Fog?

Why Do I Feel Secure

In Garments Of Grey —

Grey Accessories —

A Grey Car

With A Tinge Of Blue

A Steely Blue

Like The Silver Bullet?