The Hawk Kitchen 11:22am
I don’t have to write
about My Very Old Depression
I don’t have to go on
The Rowing Machine
unless I want to
I can sit in My Grandmother’s Kitchen Chair
& drink tea in My Bathrobe:
I AM LIVING
THE CLEAN SLATE
OF MY LIFE
The Tomato-coloured Couch 7:30pm
Years ago long-haired Eve
offered a red apple
to Her Skinny Boyfriend
& The World Of Christianity Was Born
(or was It?)
Today We have a bunch
of ripe bananas
offered by Sheepish Boyfriends
to unsuspecting Girls
everywhere
& So We Have
The Second Coming
The Hawk Outpost 8:24am
I feel I am running out of time
to write of My Silver Sky
can You hear the desperation
in My Voice?
It lies before Me
but The Clouds
are shifting
& The Light on the ocean
has diminished
to one Silver Streak
The Hawk Outpost 5:40pm
The Swath of Blue is back
with The Lower Sun
against The Scrub Spruce
between Me and The Ocean —
I have one knee propped
to write out My Exclamation
of an evening in early fall
with steaks under sauce
ready to be broiled
& My Life Glass
ready to be refilled
The Tomato-coloured Couch 3:25pm
I had a suburban upbringing
counteracted by summers
on a Wild Island
off the coast of Nova Scotia
I was a Nyack Public School Student
with paper route and good grades —
on The Island
I wore no clothes
and turned My White Bread Ass
Honey Brown
The Tomato-coloured Couch 2:55pm
I cannot lay My Self down
upon My Tomato-coloured Couch
I cannot —
I must sit here & write
& let the Ativan do its trick
I will drink My Tea
& not think of the years
of wasting away in beds
on couches, brown, green
& white
The Hawk Outpost 9:10am
I Blink In All The Brilliant Light
Until My Lashes Gleam
Iridescence Calls Me In
Converging All I’ve Seen
The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:53pm
I am salivating
to Save The World
to spoon It out
from under Itself
feed Me Our New Existence
which is ancient
Yes — I could eat It —
consume Its micro-biotic
Humanoids
Who keep questioning God
when They don’t have to
& spit Them out
afresh
*Robert A. Raines & Robert Gliner
The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:00pm
I speak with a forked tongue
out of both sides
of My Mouth
polished teeth gleaming
I am The Devil
to Whom I give no credence
I am set to announce
The Second Coming
not of Christ
but of Global
Darkness
set before The Light
The Hawk Outpost 9:06am
The Glistening Light
Listens To Me
As If I Could Say A Prayer
For The Whole World
Joanna Gilman Hyde 