Joanna Gilman Hyde

"Good Morning, World!"

Tag: poetry

MY FACE

The Tomato-coloured Couch 5:30pm

I once looked in a mirror

in My Private Bath

behind My Room

at The Yarmouth Regional Psych Unit

to see a face

I did not recognize:

slouched, forlorn, perplexed

The Face I See Now

in the multiple mirrors

of Our Hawk House

is MY FACE

 

3-WEEK PRESCRIPTION

The Hawk Deck 4:43pm

I Have A Stigmata

applied twice daily

with a Q -Tip

to My Right Cheek

(facial, that is)

I’m killing a part of Me —

a part of unfavourable growth —

I march around proudly

with the evidence of Sun

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW*

The Hawk En Suite Bath 1:32pm

I sit in a swath of Sun

where once I sat

in a Moon Beam

& got up to write

It out

I have come

full circle

where Night is now

Day

& I am Seeing

The Breadth Of Light

*Jesus Jones 1991

TRANSFIGURATION 2

The Hawk Out Post 12:51pm

The Blue Jay

bore out of the bush

to a rock in My Far Yard

 then to The Scraggly Apple

— I kept My Eye on Him —

— feeling My Blood —

& He Came to

Me

He Came

 

MORNING ABLUTIONS

The Hawk West Desk Window 10:14am

The Cape has turned moss green

overnight

I gaze out across

Its growth of dunes

serene against the overcast sky

inlet tide — the rich grey

of My Husband’s Hair

while He’s in The Tub

THE SOCIALIZED CHILD

Barrington, NS 4:30pm

I Am That Child

climbing into Her Father’s Shopping Cart

talking in complete sentences

about The Monkeys at The Zoo

and The Snake in

The Snake House

I Am That Child

with blond hair pulled back

into a pony tail

asking Her Mother, repeatedly

“Who You wavin’ at, Mom?”

I Am That Dark Haired Child

alone beside a rock

with two sticks

as drum sticks

turning away from Old Men

to examine

Her Own Play

 

LATE MORNING

The Hawk Outpost 11:15am

The Hawk Outpost

offers a thin blue sky

to The North East

the promise of sun

while a solitary Grackle

pecks at the lawn

with His Brilliant Teal Head

— Oh — There’s Another One!

WITH PRIDE

The Hawk Kitchen 5:15pm

I’ve set My Deluxe Spaghetti

with hamburger AND sausage

housed in crockery from My First Marriage

into My Gleaming Oven —

I spent two days cleaning off

baked-on two-year-old grease

including showering with the racks this morning —

now My Like-new Oven will provide a fortifying meal

to serve dinner guests

any day this week

WE ARE THE ALIENS

The Hawk Queen Bed 10:22pm

We will travel to distant stars

to walk upon lands of other planets

We will taste food yet un-savoured

& dress in garb yet only dreamed of

We will swim in salted coves

salted by the sweat of billions

We will fly our mini star-packs

through the sea-clouds of air yet formed

We will dance along valleys

& surge forward into night

We will set Our Selves loose

to gallivant with Our New Found Friends

Our New Society Of People

like Us

with Whom We will play

with magical swords

forged from metals more precious

than gold

& with Whom We will die

momentarily

at The Hands

of Lovers Divine

EVENING APPEARANCE

The Hawk Outpost 8:15pm

I looked from The Sky’s wispy clouds

threading overhead

to last year’s bamboo crop

the colour of This Year’s Fawn

Who emerged from new shoots

like magic

to test The Neighbour’s Offering

of a scoop of grain