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