The Hawk Living Room 6:40pm
I wrapped The Corpse
of My Mother
in Saran Wrap
so I could see Her better
& carried Her inside the house
My House
so I could hear Her better
I refrained from putting Her
inside the freezer
& carried Her instead
to the downstairs bathroom
to partake in the ceremony
befallen all The Others
Note: This was written on the last page of My Keith Haring Journal
My Cat Astro
I Love So Much
hissed at Me today
when I manhandled Him
onto My Lap
I’ve never heard Him hiss before —
I will never treat Him
so brusquely again
–
I might get a tattoo
“PROLIFE”
on My Forehead —
of course I want The Cows to be happy
& The Rancher’s Mink to be beautiful
handled humanely
but We’ve got to have The Line
between Human
& Animal
I once stood before a window screened
with hardware cloth
in an institution
of not My Choosing
–
from an upper storey
I stood there as if
before a microphone
I called out
to imaginary Children below
to save Them from the water’s edge
to save The Gulls from extinction
My Daughter stood above Me
on The Hawk Balcony
wearing an off-white sweater
She slipped on a pearl earring
Her Face was “Done”
She looked like the apparition
of An Angel
— I wished I could just send
My Mother’s Island Possession
over to Her —
but She’s going to Her Boyfriend’s hockey game
& turning 18 tomorrow
& now She’s changed
into a grey sweatshirt
What is The Necessity of an “Accident?”
–
If That Asteroid
hadn’t wiped out The Dinosaurs
65 million years ago
would Humanity
as We Know It
be crawling The Earth
Today?
–
Could this Progression happen Elsewhere?
Notice to My Readers:
My West Desk Window 10:52am
has been revised with new title: Big Red Truck Cab
Thank you for your attentiveness,
Joanna
The Hawk West Desk Window 10:52am
My Depression today is
a Big Red Truck Cab
inadequately hooked up
to an old mobile home
while I sit at My West Desk Window
waiting for A Parade
–
inside The Big Red Truck Cab
The Driver & His Partner sit
waiting for an excavator
to handle the job
of pulling the mobile home out
a long straight drive
around a right-angle corner
onto the road
this operation takes about forty minutes
–
next The Big Red Truck Cab drives out
& parks up ahead on the road
behind a leading white pick-up with warning lights
I make some Toast & Marmalade
& watch from My West Desk Window
–
The Big Red Truck Cab is re-hooked
to the old mobile home
& fills the road with Its catch
another truck brings up the rear
with a big red & white WIDE LOAD sign
–
I go downstairs to put on the kettle
I can watch through My House Side Door
The Parade of heavy equipment
is set
The Kettle boils
I pour My Tea
I go to look at My Line Up
It’s gone!
The Hawk Portico 5:24pm
The Waves are brusque tonight
& the sky is grey
I’m on My Second Beer
after a day of recovering from “My Spell”
in-which I lost My Decisiveness
& other people had to plan for Me
I am not altogether comfortable in These States
luckily They don’t happen often
but They can & do
in the unlikeliest of places
like Sobey’s
or some other zoo
–
I freeze up
not knowing what to think
or My Thinking’s Hung
temporarily shut down —
the only fortification I respond to
is the Kindness of Others
& I have always been met with Kindness
Joanna Gilman Hyde 