The Lake

The Lake

Happy tears raining on my skin

like tropical blue waters flowing over me

My parched flesh drinks the moisture of your touch

and I am engulfed in the waters of you

My reflection floats in your blue pools

your chest becomes my life raft lest I drown

and I embrace you with the passions of a floundering swimmer

In this endless whirlpool you have found me

spinning down that wet funnel

and without looking for a safer way

you flung yourself into my life

and held my hand

never the dominating savior

but a rock of equilibrium

letting me find my own way in the rapids

My way

like the salmon

upstream

to the calm, cool, still lake

that is you

January 2, 1993

Tressa Lee Breen

This Is No World For Me

This Is No World For Me

This is no world for me

I starve

for the only nourishment available

is loneliness

It bloats my stomach

and causes my brain to offer me migraines

in place of creative thought

My wallet shrivels

its contents vomited out in an attempt

to stave of the desperation

of a failing life

I rely on written parchment

words of friendship delivered by a stranger

to stoke the fire of hope in me

although its light is black

and its heat has long been cold

Another failure about to happen

How long can I hold back this world

from devouring me

Another morsel to be swallowed whole

and digested without thought

as to what it might have been

had it been given the chance to grow

in its new soil

January 1, 1993

Tressa Lee Breen

Rhonda

Rhonda

The onyx empress died

Long and unrestful

her death ate at her

from her place of birthing life up

devouring in its languid pace

stomach

lungs

and finally

for dessert

heart

The onyx empress is dead

December 23, 1992   

Tressa Lee Breen