robert-paul-breen
Brunswick Maine
Robert Breen was born in Boston, Massachusetts graduating from University of Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Science. After his decade’s long career as a Boston firefighter, he retired taking his love of writing to the next level by attending the summer writing program at Harvard University. The Faculty of Arts and Sciences judges unanimously decided publishing the poem, “The Eighth Circle” in the2000 Harvard University’s Summer Review. / A 2015 winner of the “Joy of the Pen”, from the Topsham Public Library, Topsham, Maine, and awarded the Margaret F. Tripp Poetry Award for the poem, “Beyond Cold”. / Robert’s firefighting helmet was memorialized by the poet, Seamus Heaney in his poem, “Helmet” and appears in Heaney’s book, “District and Circles” honoring their heroic deeds.
Robert Breen
The body moves as if Jell-O in our hands.
Intense heat makes it so small.
What was once hair
shrivels tight to the skull.
The char falls, exposes
steamed white flesh and bone.
The sweet pungent odor
stings the nostrils.
You learn fast to mouth-breathe.
We place the fetal corpse
inside the red neoprene bag.
We tighten and buckle the leather straps.
The coroner places the body on the gurney.
The chaplain makes a sign
And what about the match?
The one who sets a fire.
Is commonly called the match.
At the station,
I hose down the inside of the red burse.
And watch the spirit of a mother’s child,
Hold tight to the bars of the floor.
Sep 28, 2016
Sep 28, 2016 at 3:54 PM UTC