Wake

July 24

WAKE

Don’t worry that you might spoil the procession by getting out of your coffin. You don’t need to lie there waiting for the lid to close.  People will walk past saying, “so sad,” and “too bad,” but don’t lie in state to keep them from feeling their trip was a waste.  Just because the crypt has been purchased doesn’t mean you are ready to go.  There are still opportunities to dance.  Don’t die for love, glory or pride.  Don’t die before your time.  Death is only an honor if you lived every preceding second.

Learn to use your appliances well.

*

Speak!

Are there songs a bird must not sing

while communing with the flock?

Do fish learn to restrain their expressions

while schooling?

Or are we the only animal

versed in the language of taboo?

I wonder when I hear the cows

lowing in the night are they giving whispered voice

to things they longed to moo about all day.

I know what to keep inside,

things too flamboyant for out of doors.

I understand to keep body and soul together

I must keep down and hush,

But when I complain to my pup

does she comprehend or is it

just blah, blah, blah,

in her world of, ‘speak it like it is?’

You are reading selections from Sober on the Way to Sane and More Lines From My Life by Sherrie Theriault

http://www.amazon.com/Sober-On-The-Way-Sane/dp/1440417342/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388576888&sr=8-1&keywords=sober+on+the+way+to+sane

http://www.amazon.com/More-Lines-From-My-Life/dp/1448677203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388576956&sr=8-1&keywords=More+Lines+From+My+Life

Trust

January 31

TRUST

My sponsor always says, “You can trust people to be who they are.”  I am a different being in relationship to different people.  To some, I am the center of their constellation, the sun burning bright; I’m all they can see.  To others, I am the moon, orbiting them, silent and dedicated.  With another group, I am a comet streaking through the sky, seldom seen but well remembered.  For many, I am a distant star, one among the multitude, blending in the night with the other signs.  Then, there are the folks who see me in a more down to earth way.  I am the dirt beneath their feet.  The farmers see me as a plant to be tended.  The cowboys view me as a horse to be broken.  To fishermen, I’m a catch.  I am what people want to see, so what can I trust them to be?  Wrapped in their own worlds?  Yes, mostly, I guess.  None of my business in the end.  I watch them and learn what I want to do, who I want to be, in large part, by avoiding what I see them do.  I do trust people to serve as bad examples often and good ones infrequently, and for each of them to see me through their own filter, if they see me at all.  From me, they can expect the same.

Find a corner, then pitch a tent.

*

The Was and the Is

The Silent Scream that existed as a placeholder

for my G-d was incomprehensible to me.

I entered AA and was informed

that understanding my Higher Power was required

not just some far distant goal.

In true alcoholic form my first move was to shun G-d.

This made room for my rage

which was in much need of the space.

After a few fine years of dissipation

I lost interest in incendiary devices

no matter how large their detonation capacity.

Having cleared the room I brought in G-d as potted plant.

I talked to it occasionally, watered and fed it, mostly ignored it.

Growing in spite of lacking ministrations

G-d was an unobtrusive force living in the corner

changing gas into air and demanding nothing.

As I quelled my apprehension and lived with the Presence

I looked, listened, probed and questioned

the subtle Force sharing the room.

“Add it up,” chanted the children in my ear,

“run the numbers, settle the accounts.”

I calculated proofs and discarded the faulty and inaccurate.

What was left, the whole, not the remainder was mine to keep,

But it was not everything.  I haven’t an everything G-d,

because I am not a nothing person.

I am something and G-d is something too.

We are complimentary,

like pairs of angles who come full circle.

You are reading selections from Sober on the Way to Sane and More Lines From My Life by Sherrie Theriault

http://www.amazon.com/Sober-On-The-Way-Sane/dp/1440417342/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388576888&sr=8-1&keywords=sober+on+the+way+to+sane

http://www.amazon.com/More-Lines-From-My-Life/dp/1448677203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388576956&sr=8-1&keywords=More+Lines+From+My+Life

Keds

July 26

Keds

If I gave a child a pair of sneakers would I refuse to help them to tie them on?  Would I want this kid to wear them open, tongues hanging out, laces dangling and dangerous? Or worse would I want the child to have to lug the sneakers around; the kid feeling the need to treasure the gift and protect it from use or wear?  I hope that I would not be this sick, misguided or deranged.  I have to say that I have given up believing in a crazy G-d but this doesn’t mean that I can’t drive G-d crazy with my insane behavior.  I have to stick my feet inside my shoes and lift my foot for help and open my mouth to ask, then pay close attention so I can learn to do it on my own; all the while not beating myself up that I can’t do it already.

Treat adventure as a requirement for life

*

STUBBORN

When the donkey won’t move forward

It’s time to stop running

No need to make an ass of myself

Through force or coercion.

The dumb animal may be mute but its actions speak.

Reluctance is a warning.

If my animal nature is balking

Listening not shoving in the preferred course.

Super intelligence can’t best good horse sense.

I must stand with my intuition

That creature depends on my survival for life.

You are reading selections from More Sober on the Way to Sane and Lines From My Life by Sherrie Theriault

http://www.amazon.com/More-Sober-The-Way-Sane/dp/144141231X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1374072329&sr=8-3&keywords=sober+on+the+way+to+sane

http://www.amazon.com/Lines-My-Life-Sherrie-Theriault/dp/1448652820/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374072576&sr=1-1&keywords=Lines+from+my+life%2C+Sherrie+theriault

Stubborn

August 5

STUBBORN

When the donkey won’t move forward it’s time to stop running.  No need to make an ass of myself through force or coercion.  The dumb animal may be mute but its actions speak.  Reluctance is a warning.  If my animal nature is balking, listening not shoving is the preferred course.  Super intelligence can’t best good horse sense.  I must stand with my intuition; that creature depends on my survival for life.

Balance your shoe with your foot.

*

What are We Fighting For

Instead of competition for dominance

we would benefit from cooperation for survival.

The struggle to become the very best destroyers in the world

very well might make us postmortem champions.

Why is it that the lions don’t work to eradiate hyenas?

They could, but they don’t.

Why not, is the ever present question on my mind.

I have no answer as to why we strive to conquer.

A thousand platitudes come to mind,

but nothing fast or tight, nothing that holds water.

So, the question remains; why are we hell bent?