Scarlet Letter In Time


Scarlet Letter In Time

I betray my future

My fantasies blind and paralyze
leaving me stuck in a stagnant swamp

Migraine memories fly about me like bats
organic bullets
that strike
ricochet
and come again

Yet rays of sunlight
like coils of mythical Rapunzel’s hair
or twisted cakes of honey
often surround me

My globe mirrors the one I walk
Remembrances and daydreams
bats and sunlight
nights and days
follow their own private cycle

Trapped in Dimmesdale fashion
I find no peace in the jungle of my mind
I cheat on my present with my past
Adulterously I spend my life
sewing a scarlet letter in time

November 1993
Tressa Lee Breen

Fate


Fate

Like
a dependency upon the wind
being unanchored on the sea
breezes blowing across me
giants walking upon me
how uncontrolled Fate can be
No being to answer to
No program to follow
Laughing at Reason
not even bothering with Science
Fate is Whimsy
the ultimate flake
Fate treads where it pleases
and flosses its teeth with the harnesses
humankind tries to throw around it
Fate is the roll the dice takes
the crumbling that cookie makes
drowning in spilt milk
Fate eats Time
and belches gray hair and bad bones
It mates you with Its lover Death
but never comes to an end
It just keeps on rolling
keeps on crumbling
spilling
eternal entropy upon the heads
of every generation

September 26, 1993
Tressa Lee Breen

Like Skin


Like Skin

Smooth as marble
too unyielding

Soft as silk
too easily torn

Velvet as a flower petal
too much perfume

Sensual as lace
too erotic

Quiet as a whisper
too abstract

I search for the metaphor to describe my human armor
It must be protective
holding me in
yet allowing me to give and receive sensuality
It must embrace me
yet flow like the tides

I look through dictionaries and thesauruses
I comb my memory
yet find no answer

Finally I surrender and slip into bed
too exhausted to care about pilfering my dreams

Then I look at you sleeping
and see my metaphor

You are like my skin

September 26, 1993
Tressa Lee Breen

The (J) Exception


The (J) Exception

A tall mammoth in the California surf
a “dude” with a man of Aslan
the sun in his hair
and two pieces of soft ice peering from his face
the blue skies forever in his eyes

You teased me as you said you would
your hint of laughter precipitating a collision
between our two beings

Your picture is not one I prefer
but the colors of you are a rainbow I like
and I find myself wanting
that which is not
and can never be

But for a moment
the gentleness of your fingers
mirrored the taste of your lips
and when your hands embraced my face
there was nothing outside my room to exist

And now
I find myself waiting to read you
to hear you unfold before me
only to have you leave
just as binding is cracked open

Finally you stayed
and we did more than read between the lines
Our books were open to the center
folded out under blinding light
No meticulous metaphors hid our meaning

We were but a short story
with our friendship being slammed shut between the covers
of our separate lives

Now the glass of my memory is the only reflection of you
and there is only rain where you once stood
in my room

September 26, 1993
Tressa Lee Breen

La Boheme


La Boheme

His eyes
goblets of light pouring out
and splashing over my mind

His face
a shield of malleable metal
both protecting his treasure of thoughts
and sharing his personal crest

His form
not the statuesque body Goliath
but the subtle strength of David
allowing even sight of souls

Although I have seen only the glint of his armor
I believe this is no ordinary knight
He belongs to no kingdom
follows no drum
and conquers no one

And now I wait to see
if the setting sun will call him away
or if he will come round my table
and drink with me

September 26, 1993
Tressa Lee Breen