Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Tag: poetry

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The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:40pm

Sterling Silver Beef

displayed under The Kiosk Sign

@ Sobey’s

I bought two slabs

after saying “no” to two samples

of second-rate cork flooring

@ Wilson’s Home Hardware

— I put The Beef

in My Black Basket

& paid for It with a fifty in Speedy Checkout

behind a man who’s head was shaped

like David Wilson’s

MARCH

The Hawk Queen Bed 9:11am

I want to go to sleep

with the wind

up in My Turret

at the end of twenty years —

I want to sleep to seventy

& wake up to the noon

of My Old Age

no longer marred

CANADA

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:15pm

America is famous for

Its Movie Stars

Its Giant Meals

Its Wide Open Pages

& It’s Famous For Me

though I have displaced My Self

To An Even Grander Space —

I Am In The New Frontier

of Canada

where endless gallons of water

are pure

where storms melt quickly

where trees get re-forested

& My Children Make Their Lives

PERCEPTION 2

The Hawk Family Room 4:44pm

According to My Perception

There Is No Such Thing

as an “illness”

Schizophrenia

The Schizophrenia Society is barking

up the wrong tree —

when My Brother received

His “diagnosis” at 21

that was the end of His Free Thinking

His Creative Mind Had Gone As Far

as society would let It —

at My Insistence

that My Brother didn’t “have” schizophrenia

My Father Francy declared:

“Well, Howard certainly has Something

Yes, He Had A Creative Human Mind Influenced

By His Unique Perception

IS MY HOUSE CLEAN ENOUGH?

The West Desk Window 11:00am

The New Floors Are Down

without The Moulding Yet —

Hunter’s Library Is Finished

without Books

Wing Chair

& Grand Father’s Desk

I Am Frozen

In My Writing —

I recall One Social Worker

ten years ago

Make The Pronouncement

that To Stay Clean

Some People Keep Busy

or was that

To Stay Busy

Some People Clean?

WINTER ROUND-UP

The Hawk Family Room 5:30pm

How Many Old Women

live in houses with ailing men

& have to check the blankets

To See If They’re Still Moving?

FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE*

March 22, 2011 7:35am The Lobby of The Quality Inn, Halifax Airport

I have never seen Two Women

— I thought one of Them was a Small Man

at first —

I’ve never seen Two Women

embrace like Lovers —

They obviously were Lovers —

They obviously Love Each Other

more than anyone else on the planet

*WHB just uttered this phrase and I used it

poem originally titled Lesbian Embrace

 

SATURDAY MORNING

The Hawk Kitchen 9:37am

The Sun Is Blinding Me

With Silver

Off The Ocean

A Broad Swath

Taking In Fishing Boats

While I Drink My Coffee

FOR THE JACKIES IN MY LIFE

The Hawk Kitchen 3:15pm

Today I Made Cookies

— it doesn’t matter what kind —

— it doesn’t matter I had to pound

the brown sugar into submission —

— it doesn’t matter They came out with arms & legs —

I Made Cookies

For The First Time

Since Making Hermit Cookies With My Mother

On McNutt Island

over 25 years ago

BEFORE SUPPER

The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:14pm

Oh Bug I Saw You Again

Against My Beautiful Sunset

Were You Following Me?

Did You Know I’d Been Writing

& Stopped Only To Look?