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 Utility Room 7:56pm
I stood above
My Mother’s Killer
dying on the basement floor
I thought of all
I’ve done to fill Her
and now can sleep
forever more
The Hawk Queen Bed 10:40pm
We Lay In Our Beds
Flattened Against The Night
All Around One Half
Of The Globe
Only To Dream Of What Might
Happen
When We Raise
Our Selves
Up
The Tomato-coloured Couch 4:15pm
The Message I received
from My Divine Hallucination
of the head of The Beautiful Dark Haired Woman
on My Right Shoulder
Who said, “You Know The Meaning Of Life
And So You Are A Star —
so go to sleep”
may have been, now, telling
The Whole World
to go to sleep —
perhaps it is not awakening
We need —
it is Sleeping and Dreaming
celebrating The Night
Our Darkness
to find Our True Selves
The Hawk En Suite Bath 9:30pm
every night @ 9:30pm
I take the following assortment
of medication:
Apo-lithium Carbonate 2 x 300mg
Novo-olanzapine 10mg
Synthroid 50mcg
Novo-lorazepam 1mg
Mylan-sertraline 25mg
SO I CAN SLEEP
The Hawk Queen Bed 9:25pm
How Many People
Get To Sleep Under The Flash
Of A Lighthouse Near?
The Hawk West Desk Window 7:40pm
I hear the distant surf
coming in like radio static
whose constant frequency
is broken only intermittently
by the heckling of a gull
or by the infrequent surge
of a vehicle on the road
acting as an incoming wave
The Hawk West Desk Window 10:22pm
Every night @ 9:30 I swallow a concoction
of medical remedies for sleep
— not to build a cocoon of ages —
but to bury Me underwater
like The Dragonfly Nymph
Who emerges after several years
into clear summer air
to fly the frenzied mating dance
to be admired
should She land against
the sleeve or head
of The Silver Haired Doctor
bent on examination
The Hawk Queen Bed 3:00pm
I’m still in bed, in My Pyjamas
& it’s three o’clock in the afternoon
This condition is ostensibly due to sleep deprivation
from last night when I stayed up too late
fooling around with My joannagilmanhyde web address —
It didn’t get corrected until this morning
with My Husband’s help before work
but I wasn’t able to catch up on the sleep
despite taking an Ativan —
as You may have gathered
My Beauty Sleep relies entirely on pills
& regular routine —
any break in the pattern
& I’m shot for the day
–
personal note: My Daughter Eliza just phoned
that She’s got a summer job at Shelburne’s Osprey Arts Center
The Hawk Portico 4:50pm
I seem to be developing a pattern
of going back to sleep
after Hunter leaves for work
possibly to make up for the nocturnal interruptions
of letting Astro out
back in
of waking well before the alarm
waking & waiting
to rise & make the coffee
or take out the trash
as happened today
& today I did go back to sleep
dreamed
& so resurrected the remainder
of the day
even painted a small pine table Peter built
long ago & left unclaimed
to use now in the new library
for Hunter’s Stereo
Joanna Gilman Hyde 