After launching two books in Wānaka, the poet is coming in strong with her third collection and this one explores the full spectrum of rural living, from the joyful to the heartbreaking.
Although Breslin now lives in Dunedin, not long ago she was living and raising her family in Hāwea Flat.
Having lived in the region for about 20 years, Breslin has taken her observations of rural life and crafted a collection of raw and painfully honest poems.
Breslin said she wanted the book to show that despite the beauty of rural living, there were issues people struggled with.
The title of the book is a play on words which reflects this occasional social conflict.
The title is both "Show You’re Working Out" and "Show Your Working Out".
"It’s got ‘show you’re working out’ ... which is kind of like the pressure to conform in a small town," she said.
"But you’ve also got the ‘show your working out’ like when you’re told to in math exams to put your working out on the page."
The first section of the book, called "When I Leave the House I Smile", is a series of poems expressing the untold parts of stories in rural communities.
"It’s really looking at how often we don’t tell the stories of personal and structural violences in Pakeha stories," she said.
The poems in this section particularly shine a light on stories of conflict hidden beneath the idyllic country life.
Ms Breslin wanted to take these difficult conversations and make them a central part of the story she was telling.
"Living in a rural community, stories of things like domestic and other violence are often told within people, but not as part of an official narrative."
The second part of the book continues exploring themes around conformity and being different in small communities.
Breslin draws her inspiration for this part from the story of a woman named Hannah Hayes who lived in Central Otago during the late 1800s.
She was the wife of miller and inventor Ernest Hayes, who set up a flour mill in Oturehua and, in the 1880s, invented tools to simplify farming.
Ms Hayes had been dedicated to spreading the word about her husband’s inventions and took to riding her bike around Central Otago to visit farms and promote their product.
Breslin stumbled upon Ms Hayes’ story during the rail lines poetry tour of the Otago Central Rail Trail, and was immediately drawn to find out more about a woman who had stood out in a rural community.
"When I found her story written in a single paragraph in a family history in Hayes Engineering ... I started wondering , if that’s true, what else could be true?"
This resulted in poems that brought out the beauty and struggle of being different, especially in a small town.
The third and final section wraps up the book on a light note, looking at the more queer and joyful side to rural living.
Breslin debuted her book at Rhyme and Reason yesterday and will be going on a book tour across the country, sharing stories that have inspired her.
