lynn ciesielski
Richardson
Complex, Buffalo Psychiatric Center
you sleep naked on snow banks
desert dunes at night
dream long pauses
your jagged thoughts do not match
master turns you to mosaic
feelings provide mortar
mind becomes motley stone wall
you are beautiful like Gothic art
but stand stoic
the patina on your rooftops dyes them Easter colors
you too wish to rise from this death
that boxes you in
but now you remain lost
in a metaphorical maze
try to climb the stone barefoot
these tunnels are vertical
they trap you
life trains us all on a forward path
we never learn to climb
it's a long way to heaven
your castle encumbers
you peer through windows
but someone has barred them
they screen out butterflies and bats
intruders enter from inside
until we reach out to rescue you
(Previously published in Transparent Words and Buffalo News)
Lynn Ciesielski taught in city schools for over eighteen years and worked
with disabled adults in group homes for five more. Currently, she is retired and
puts most of her energy into her poetry. Her work has been published or is
upcoming
in Iodine, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Blue Collar Review, Transparent Words and
Buffalo News.