The Hawk Living Room 5:04pm
My Coffee Table is laden
with The Puzzle
Flaming June
undone by My Doodles
Day into Night
left-handed hieroglyphics
each convoluted piece
notated
The Hawk West Desk Window 1:38pm
Today I counted and weighed
My Volumes Of Writing —
38 Journals and My 364-page Typed Manuscript
weighing in on the bathroom scale
at 39 pounds
counting Birk’s largest bag
in-which They are contained
valuable to Me
nearly indecipherable to anyone
other than Me
& ready to hit the auction block
when I die
PS
In the meantime
I have put a pillow
on top
for a cat bed
The Hawk Corner Room 2:22pm
I was A Child of Letters
Valentines to Grand Parents
folded-over butterfly stationary to A Canadian Boyfriend
round pink stationary to My Mother from My Father’s Farm
I wrote to The Rockland County Journal News
when I was eight going on nine
thanking The Valley Cottage Fire Department
for saving Our Woods from a children’s brushfire
a page of loose-leaf in The 5th Grade to My Father
telling Dad to pay Mom a hundred dollars
a page of loose-leaf in The 6th Grade to A Boy
Who ripped it in half
& into My Teens
to Cousins, Friends
Boys I went to bed with
or wanted to
I wrote letters
to Men in executive offices
in My Early Twenties
I wrote & I wrote
all My Life So Far
like magic I am A Woman of Letters
They have preceded Me
Up Here in My Beautiful Corner Room
looking out over The Atlantic Ocean
with My Husband home from work
& a claw-less Siamese
pawing at The Door
Oh Luminous Cloud —
am I the only One Who sees You?
I watched Your Golden Aura fade
& then The Moon peeked out
from underneath
Your Grey Companions
Joanna Gilman Hyde 