Numbskull

Numbskull

Everything snowing down

cold

building up around my feet

I’m running

but still deeper I become

This world of purity

buries me in blasphemy

All that is said to grow here

is plastic in the soil

Yet I cannot feel the chill

I cannot feel the sin

In this land known to be hot as hell

my mind

my soul

are frozen still

February 24, 1993

Tressa Lee Breen

Systems Collapse

Systems Collapse

Scratch me

skin opens

slice deeper

blood flows

cut off a limb

body goes into shock

pierce an organ

the whole system collapses

Enter me without physically puncturing

and rip apart my soul with your silence

Won’t the end be the same?

February 24, 1993

Tressa Lee Breen

Orange Peeling

Orange Peeling

Peeled away

(pearls and onions)

so many layers

(I never knew I had so many souls)

no blood

and the pain

no

more like

the image of pain

where it should be

but isn’t

(why doesn’t the pain enhance

as nerves greet the light

screaming)

I’m shaking

yet I can’t feel it

So much of me being ripped away

like disappearing sunsets of my youth

And that which I found here

is stripped away from me too

(I can’t even cover the raw flesh)

So much of what I am

and what I’d hoped to become

gone

Smaller and smaller

I’m dissolving

till the heart of the matter is uncovered

and all that is left

are peelings

February 24, 1993

Tressa Lee Breen

Teacher's Pet

Teacher’s Pet

I was curious for you to read my life

so I copied down my soul

and handed you the years

I had hoped that my words would see you

and that your spirit might feel the embrace of another

I write to me

but sometimes let people read over my shoulder

Giving “understanding of the word” is not a goal

sharing the feeling is my aspiration

Garnering any wisdom

no matter how general or detailed

is always advantageous

but secondary

I wish to live learning

but have no desire to be taught

And now I find myself in discourse with a teacher

who doesn’t seem to understand

it’s not the pen on paper

but the hand on skin that moves me

Don’t just tell me what you think

show me what you feel

If I can surround you with emotion

the how and why are not important

Don’t let the lessons of your past

become the teachings of your future

You’re not standing at a podium

and I’m not sitting at a desk

Look me in the eye from across a round table

and share your knowledge with me

Ask me, “Do you understand?”

Never assume, “She doesn’t understand”

Remember

a teacher must always be ready

to learn

February 21, 1993

Tressa Lee Breen

Backyard Sighting

Backyard Sighting

Across my lover’s backyard

an emerald forest

I see him

cradled in a hammock

the fabled babe hanging from the stork’s beak

reading

Sky gold showers down on him

I can see his aura and his halo

as he moves to capture the light

All the warmth on him

I feel in me

for him

He doesn’t see me

for he is not in this world

but of it

and he won’t even know

that if I should loose my sight

I pray that this

be the last thing I see

February 19, 1993

Tressa Lee Breen