August 27
THE DREAMER
“What about the dreamer?”
“What about her?” responds my sponsor. “You ask me about her like I was the one who pushed her off the cliff.”
“Are you saying I pushed her?” I questioned my sponsor.
“Yes, that is just what I am saying. Do you need me to sing it? You wanted the dreamer to fly off to safety and happiness and wanted her to take you with her. In an attempt to grab hold of her ankles and propel her to heaven you threw her from the precipice. Now she is broken and bleeding far from your sight. Your dreamer is damaged and you ask me what about her. Do you want to know what you did and how to remedy it or were you looking to duck responsibly?”
“Quack.”
Run before you fly.
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Defining the Indefinable
What is Alcoholism?
What is a Hurricane?
What is a Cataclysm?
I know I look for the root cause,
look to predict the outcome,
look to prevention and preservation.
This thing which comes pouring
from the four winds
to land in my yard
and knock on my screen door.
What it shows me today,
the furious winds,
the slanting rain,
may not be how it presents tomorrow,
I must keep in mind it is all the same storm
and must be regarded with the same respect
and treated with the same care and diligence.
Whether it’s the thirst or the thinking,
a jail cell or my mental mouse trap,
alcoholism is an umbrella term for the tsunami,
which came to collect me,
but no definition will convey the devastation it has wrought.
You are reading selections from Sober on the Way to Sane and More Lines From My Life by Sherrie Theriault
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