Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Tag: poetry

A SIGN OF SLEEP

The Hawk Queen Bed 8:39pm

The Other Day when I did The Laundry

a spiky caterpillar stuck to the wall

of Our Green Bed Room —

the next time I saw Him

He had crawled to the far wall

with its big windows

and tonight

I see He has wrapped Himself up

where the wall meets the ceiling

in a cozy cocoon

so I can keep an eye

on His Emergence

THE EATING OF UNHAPPINESS

The Hawk Dining Room 9:45am

Last Night I stayed up

with Eliza to watch

a food production documentary

about the over-crowding

of chickens and cows

and pigs herded

into killing chambers

designed by humans to do just that —

having The Life

squeezed out

of half a dozen pigs

at a time —

 I got one hour of sleep

and My Daughter refused

to have coffee with me

AGE APPROPRIATE

The Hawk Front Yard 10:20am

I have a rose bush

planted for a life

of the sibling to My Children

never seen except

encased by an ultra-sound screen

when He/She was declared

too small

and I had to wait a week

WEEK 10

The Hawk Queen Bed 9:11pm

“It’s a shame She has no insight,”

said a psychiatric nurse to My Husband

one of those 23 years

when I was drugged

for the duration

of The Prime of My Life —

well today I have more “insight”

than all the staff and doctors

put together

and I got to have a manicure

in the company of My Daughter

attended by an eager Asian

named Cong Lee

Who asked Me

where We’d been shopping

MY BLACK COAT

The Hawk Queen Bed 8:17am

Once I had a pretty coat —

the last time I wore it was to see

Our Lawyer from The Hyde Inquiry

it was flared with a high-cut waist

and Two Silver Buttons

but I gave it away

years ago

to The Salvation Army

when I got rid of My Black Jesus Clothes —

this morning  I woke with an anxious thought

regretting My Disposal

but My Comforting Husband

tried to reassure Me:

“It was the drugs.”

 

SPIDER WEBS

The Hawk Queen Bed 7:55am

I want to write about the big spider web

wet, I saw this morning

at My Kitchen Window — with a new one

a little one getting sewn write before My Eyes

I watched it until it was finished

and the coffee was ready

and then I looked at the scraggly apple

to see it festooned with more wet webs

and then I looked beyond

to the scrub forest

and saw the dew-laiden trees

each with more than one

enormous galactic web

spreading out through

My Extended View in front

of the early morning sun

wet on the Atlantic Ocean

AT THE SIGN

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 9:51am

I stood bare-footed beside My Rose

above It, twice

and first I heard a Blue Jay

and second My Mother’s Chickadee

and as I looked at the numerous blossoms

I heard the surf of The Cape

and reveled in the fog droplets

upon the fertilized leaves

MY DAUGHTER

The Hawk Queen Bed 9:34pm

Eliza sat out on M(eye) Deck

at the glass topped table with Her Music

weighed down by a fossilized snail from B. C.

Her Back was to M(eye) Sliding Glass Doors

She played Her Guitar

w/ Her Very Blond Hair

waving slightly

in the evening air

She didn’t want Me with Her

She said She couldn’t concentrate

& so Eye looked through

from The Kitchen

@ Her Cable Knit Sweater

& tree-planting shoulders arched

over the musical instrument

Eye bought for Her 13th Birthday

SEEKING SOLITUDE

The Hawk Beach 7:55pm

Eye had just started to write

The Guzzle is @ Its deepest

when the incoming tide

churns its way toward Me

along the far edge

caught in the evening light

like a mini Grand Canyon —

then Eye heard a BUZZ —

a giant flying insect?

Eye looked overhead & guessed

Eye was being spied upon

by M(eye) 1st Ever Drone!

WEEK 7

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 2:16pm

I have planted My First Rose Bush

“Knock-out Pink”

under Our New Sign saying The Blairs

in iridescent white

printed with a Blue Jay —

Chicken Polenta is made for The Kids

and can be baked anytime

and We’ve been invited to Their Grandfather’s

Memorial Service Friday Afternoon —

tomorrow night My Tree-planting Darlings

and one Mexican Collie

are to be collected

from the airport four hours away

and I will be making ham sandwiches

to take

and a Duncan Hines carrot cake

fortified with chopped pecans

just to have on hand