The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:00pm
In December 1970 I wanted to possess
badly wanted
A Pair Of Love Birds
green & red —
sitting so close
in the local pet store
I had My nine-year-old heart set
on Them & cried to My Mother
that I had to have Them
to which She replied, “Joge, what if One Of Them
dies?”
Instead, on Christmas Morning I found
a beautiful Indian Ring Neck Parakeet
but He died That Day
at the bottom of His Golden Cage
& destroyed
My ability to see
The Singularity Of God
Tusket, NS 11:45am
When are We going to stop
hearing why Christmas should
or shouldn’t be —
or what it should or shouldn’t
be for?
Like an open van-load of toys
in a car dealer’s show room
to attract any child’s attention
with a sales woman’s pronouncement:
“It’s for the kids —
that’s what Christmas
should be for –“
Eliza’s Lavender Room 7:36pm
The Second Coming of Christ
has moved out of Her Husband’s Room
to afford greater access
to sleep without cats
— a temporary move —
but now to live
in the singularity of mind
DIVINE & HUMAN
as She programs Her Self
to open up The World
by saying “Good Night”
to Its mammoth past
The Hawk Outpost 1:50pm
With The Sublimity of The Morning
with Me making coffee for three
with Eliza baking blueberry muffins
I thought to write of a garden
I was taken to see
by an Acadian Nurse named Emily
Who thought I’d like to walk
across the hospital parking lot
across a curving back street
to a stranger’s yard grown up
with flowers I don’t remember —
but I remember The Walk
& found It, or One like It, noted
in My decades-old medical records:
“Patient enjoyed Her Walk.”
The Hawk Queen Bed 11:04pm
What Does It Mean
To Be Human?
To Top The Chart
One Bell Curve
Of Human Behavioural Spectrum —
To Sit Up There
Like A Star
Growing Into The Nebula
Reaching Out
To Very Vast Edges?
The Hawk West Desk Window 10:05am
I am a very womanly woman:
I feed My Husband His Instant
Oatmeal —
later make Him a sandwich —
supper @ 6:00 —
I buy all the groceries
do The Laundry
& keep The House tidy
weekday mornings I see My Husband
off to Work
where his Secretary gets Him
take-out meals —
like all The Women
The World Over
We keep Our Men
Alive
The Hawk Dining Room 9:28am
…leaving the expanse of roiling ocean
with Silver cascading off
in spray
to move in closer on a neighbour’s drive
— there an illuminated puddle —
the road is wet
reflective
right down to My Window Sash
a Silver
dot
The Hawk Queen Bed 1:42pm
In keeping with The Churning Sea
loud enough to be heard
against windows closed for winter
I heard The Fog Horn’s Note
penetrate My nearness of sleep
The Hawk Queen Bed NOON
I come into My Bedroom
The Privacy —
only to write To The World
–
The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:35pm
Dr Blair signs His Papers
with His Gold & Onyx Pen
while I blink on The Couch, tired
looking for My Friend —
My Friend Who came to Me Last Night
and put His spherical rays
in front of My Crazed Sight
The Hawk Queen Bed 9:53am
Last Night I saw
The Aura of Eye
whenever I blinked
& became The Petulant Child
while My Husband went to sleep
I wore Him out
with My Antics
while I tried
to decipher
what I was seeing
& decided
I should eat
Joanna Gilman Hyde 