Rock Bottom Prices

January 19

ROCK BOTTOM PRICES

Marble topped dressers, dry sinks and wardrobes, standing in the auctioneer’s warehouse, show loving use and obvious value.  The hungry consumers peruse the merchandise looking for the perfect piece to fit their need.  Old men eating ice cream sandwiches pick their way through the rows of tidbits laid out on the lawn, bargains to fill in odd spaces and little desires.  So like our meeting places, where people try to refurnish their lives.  The cost to arrive may have been high, but once in the market is more than fair.  We reclaim relics and we use them as road signs and warnings.  There is always someone around to carry large truths home and no one has to go away empty handed.  We bid on our own survival by buying someone else a break.  Time passes easily, as the one at the podium recounts the rock bottom prices.

Curl up inside the nautilus of your mind and take a nap.

*

Tea or Sympathy

Tears pouring into the teacup

growing cold on the table

create a sea of emotions uncharted.

If I cannot offer sympathy to the contents,

the soulless heel that I am,

how then do I expect to have a future?

If I will tender only meager tolerance

toward the spindled thing

valiantly trying to beat within me

why do I even show my face to the mirror?

If shoulders are cold and turned inward

then I will collapse into the inexpressive,

dismal thing that has been misshapen

through misuse.

I might as well drink the chilly tea

for that is all the comfort I will get.

I must do better by myself

in order to brew a better world.

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

What is a Sheep to Do?

January 19

What Is A Sheep To Do?

Things are bad out there.  I see the trouble as I circle within the flock.  Many of us whisper to each other as we pass.  How can I create lasting change?  Is there something helpful that will not separate me from my precious life, something that will not make me prey to the vultures before I even realize that I’m dead?  How can I live and strive while the wolves hold the hilltops?  Is the choice merely, one death or the other?  Is there an as yet unseen path?  Can I find it while maintaining my place in this congregation?  What is a sheep to do?

Topple the toys from their bins and play

.

Tea or Sympathy

Tears pouring into the teacup growing cold on the table create a sea of emotions uncharted.  If I can not offer sympathy to the contents, the soulless heel that I am, how then do I expect to have a future?  If I will tender only meager tolerance toward the spindled thing valiantly trying to beat within me why do I even show my face to the mirror?  If shoulders are cold and turned inward then I will collapse into the inexpressive, dismal thing that has been misshapen through misuse and I might as well drink the chilly tea for that’s all the comfort I’ll get.  I must do better by myself in order to brew a better world.

Smooth one hand with the other.

*

SOD

Green and black
Pinwheels of rolled grass
Speed by me on a flat bed.

Sod
Headed for home
That is how it is for me.

I grew up in a place of impermanence
A place clearly not my destination
Uprooted and prepared for relocation I am in transition.

My future surroundings unknown
Will be a perfect fit.
I have been anticipated
Grown for a purpose of which I am uninformed.


I have done my part, I am ready to lay down my roots
And become a lawn of seamless expanse
Somewhere my Higher Power is grading a hill
Smoothing the way.

I am ready to take my place
In the landscape
Of sober living and right thinking.

Rank

April 20

RANK

I took an area level service position and my sponsor laughed herself off her chair.

“What is your motivation for this?” she asked.

“I want to move up through the service structure,” my reply.

“Are you trying to make rank?”

“Problem with that?" I ask.

“Ever heard of self-fulfilling prophecy? You will become what you desire. You will become rank and you will stink. The triangle is inverted to help you clean up your act. Don’t get washed away in a tide of ego.”

I put down my swim fins and removed my epaulets.

Listen intently enough to hear the music of the planets spinning in your mind.

*

Bummed

I accept change

like coins slipped into a cup

that sits beside me on the curb.

Never did it occur to me

that I look in need of pity

or alms from strangers;

Which is to say

I don’t accept much these days,

yet I do not fight it either.

I keep my head down

when I can no longer fend off the inevitable.

I may not win control or compliance,

Might not remain strong enough to fight another day,

but this too is a blessing somehow.

A laying down of arms.

Money in my pocket

makes the world a funny place to endure

when I’m living in the tiny room in my head.

What good news it would be

if I learned to throw the windows open

and let the day take me.

This time it’s God

that needs to wear the ear muffs

and lead me through the coldness of change.

On my own I just walk farther

down the blind alleys

and fold myself on this sidewalk in exhaustion.

I don’t like the tea or the sympathy,

but I don’t think I would mind if God took me in.

Rock Bottom Prices

January 19

ROCK BOTTOM PRICES

Marble topped dressers, dry sinks and wardrobes, standing in the auctioneer’s warehouse, show loving use and obvious value. The hungry consumers peruse the merchandise looking for the perfect piece to fit their need. Old men eating ice cream sandwiches pick their way through the rows of tidbits laid out on the lawn, bargains to fill in odd spaces and little desires. So like our meeting places, where people try to refurnish their lives. The cost to arrive may have been high, but ones in the market is more than fair. We reclaim relics and we use them as road signs and warnings. There is always someone around to carry large truths home and no one has to go away empty handed. We bid on our own survival by buying someone else a break. Time passes easily, as the one at the podium recounts the rock bottom prices.

Curl up inside the nautilus of your mind and take a nap.

*

Tea or Sympathy

Tears pouring into the teacup

growing cold on the table

create a sea of emotions uncharted.

If I cannot offer sympathy to the contents,

the soulless heel that I am,

how then do I expect to have a future?

If I will tender only meager tolerance

toward the spindled thing

valiantly trying to beat within me

why do I even show my face to the mirror?

If shoulders are cold and turned inward

then I will collapse into the inexpressive,

dismal thing that has been misshapen

through misuse.

I might as well drink the chilly tea

for that is all the comfort I will get.

I must do better by myself

in order to brew a better world.

Sympathetic Strings

July 15

Sympathetic Strings

A guitar with 28 strings generates much sympathy from the cords which were not strummed. Pluck is contagious and inspires much harmony and verve in the vicinity in which it shows face. Sympathetic strings vibrate in response to the jangling around them but are tuned to their own notes. Much distortion adds to the depth of the sound created by this throng. Can you hear my life? How a disturbance in my life rings in the lives which surround me? How I twitch and chime when things are twanged in the lives of my neighbors, my friends, my kin. We make the music of care, the discord of reaction. To every move there is a sound to every sympathy a harmony.

Surprise yourself with the light in your own eyes

*

THE LIVING DREAM

Throwing yourself into the river in pieces

Drowns you as crumbs.

Casting aside love and longing

makes you less in your heart

and your soul stops beating.

Pitching your tent with critics and complainers

Leaves you out in the cold on warm summer evenings.

Crest the hill to meet the rising sun

Orbit the constellations without hesitation.

Petit point the pictures in your mind

Then set them to music.

The world is your dream

Live it into reality.