Friends of Bill W.

[LeftWriteFemme]

December 1

Poorly Chirping

She writes poetry like fusion jazz, more fun to make than to listen to. She stands at the podium serving as a bad example. I pray as she reads, “Lord, please don’t let me get sucked into the self-importance of bad poetry for the sake of peering peers, and forgetting to write what is there for the world, the readers, the things which bring the word pictures and sets them before me. Lord, remind me that the writing is not done for me, but done as Billy Collins quotes, for the love of strangers.”


Tops spin, do you?
*

DO WE SEE

The old man walked down the road to see the end,
I followed to glimpse the fruit of his pursuit.
Does the highway come to rest
Or like the river just feed a greater sea?

And time, will the clock stop him?
Can he win the treasure hunt
As the seconds tick away on the metronome?

Will the slowing of his steps
And the advancing of his age
Create a curve which will prevent his accomplishment?

Does this tag-along I am doing
Make me a part of his project?
The road is long and its end may never come, only ours.

When we take the road the road takes us.
More and less is what we are and so too the road.
I follow the contour of the ground
Which curves around the world
Spinning in our sky so we can all see the stars.

[LeftWriteFemme]

December 2


At The Dodge


I remember so long ago when I would come and sit and listen; soak in the poets and the Consort, sop it all into the sponge that listened and sat. I did not know exactly what they were doing and I didn’t know why I was there, but I went and had a soak. Now so many years hence I am the writer I never knew and I know just what they do because, I do it too!




Write a poem on your foot


*

GOOSE

I round this corner nearly every day.
There in the field stand a flock of problems,
Pecking the ground and flopping their wings.

Uniform and regular, the honking and squawking
Is undistinguishable from yesterday.

I ponder and squint, are these the same
Or yet another gaggle making their way
Along the migratory path?

Trouble is feral, skulking the edges of the field
But never sheltering in the yard.
I must leave my hands off
Knowing these are not mine.

The feathers fly and I gather the strays
Acutely aware of the ticklish nature of this.

Awkwardly I face the truth
No matter how much of a perplexity this is to me
Or others, it is only geese.

[LeftWriteFemme]

December 3




The Twelfth of April


When I met you, you were a power tagged and trapped in a box. A tiger caught by its toe and yet I could do nothing but fall under the spell of your roar. The suppressed growl you leave for me like an invitation I could never decline. I write to you a note of explanation; words testifying to my desire, which I promise to hold back out of respect for you. And a wish to survive my drive toward you and your furious stripes and claws. Your bite which I long to feel, yet know I must not ask for. When I inquire if you have read, you say with sanguine smile, “Read it to me.” When I am done and with tear stained face, all you reply is, “I have lost my taste for anyone but you.”



Keep an ear out for more than danger
*



GOOD SAMARITAN PIE

The meal prepared from my cognition,
The bread and jam of humility, salad of expectation,
Roast of determination and Good Samaritan pie
Wait on the table to be devoured.

The courses pass and come desert, my kindly intentions.
Are cut to wedges and pushed from setting to setting.
I can dollop after dollop cover the requisite desires
Of this tart in attempt to deny my addiction to fixing
Or I can serve up the plain truth.

I help and help, and wander down roads looking
For lost puppies to return to their homes.
I must admit my longing to lend support
Is sometimes half-baked and if kept to home and hearth
It might serve me better and make a sweeter dish.

Assistance is best in proportion to the meal
I must live my life and save my Good Samaritan pie till last.

[Lady_Di]

God Grant Me
Serenity to Accept
The Things I
Cannot Change
Change the Things I Can &
The Wisdom to Know the Difference

____________________________
note I am adding in his typos and capitalizations, as when I copied this from him this morning, it cracked me up... even his spacings, loved it
__________________________________________________ __

Living One Day At a Time

Enjoying One Moment At a Time

Accepting Hardship As The Pathway of Peace
Taking As He Did, This World As It is
Rather Than As I Would Have It

Trusting That He Will Make All
Things Right If I Surrender to His Will

That I Might Be Reasonably Happy In This Life
And Extremely Happy with Him in the Next

_____________________________________________

Zip A Dee Do Da
Zip A Dee A
My owe my
What a wonderful Day

Plenty of Sunshine
Coming My Way
Zip A Dee Do Da
Zip A Dee Day

Mr Blue Bird
On My Shoulder

Yes It's True

It's Actual
Everything Is
Satistfactual

Zip A Dee Do DA
Zip A Dee Day
Wonderful Feeling
Wonderful Day

_________________________________________

I go to a morning meeting every morning, come rain or shine, snow or blizzard...

And there is a core group of old, and I mean old timers that meet 50 minutes before the meeting to do pages 84-87

And they then finish this morning meditation, spiritual reawakening... with singing their blessed hearts out...

Zip a dee doo dah
Zip a dee day

oh what a feeling
oh what a day

_________________________________________

I swear to G.d that I fell into this group quite by accident, but imnsho... I think G.d wanted, needed me here. Big time.

I had been resting on my laurels, very lazy... now, I am active again and living life fully, with purpose. And I know today precisely what my purpose is, why I am here on earth.

I am here to be of Service. And those of you may remember that I used to have a tag line over at the old site...


In Service,
Lady Di


***We all serve, even the Queen of England serves. The question becomes... who do you serve?***


~haven't changed a bit, my essence, my very soul... the very heart of me is unchanging and full of love for all mankind. Even those who have done me wrong. I am not a saint... dats for sures!

Living and learning, growing in the spirit...

ODAAT,
Di


***still giggling from the "My Owe My"

my oh my... love me my fellow addicts and alcoholics

with that song stuck in my head...

tis a wonderful day to be clean and sober, especially grateful for my emotional sobriety, more than anything on earth at this moment~

[imadiva]

I have a question that I hope someone can answer..

If someone goes to AA and still takes a perscription medication (klonopin) are they considered Clean and Sober !!!!!!! It seems to numb all the feelings that I would think need to be delt with in order to stay sober ...

Thank you in advance ..

[Lady_Di]

Yes hon... Taking medicine as prescribed is an important component. Being teachable and listening to those that know more than we do... that is in the Big Book, btw.

I sponsor a lot of folks and always stress the importance of listening to their "outside" help. I am not their doctor. I am just there to help them learn how to do those steps, how to read the book and look up things that we do not understand, even stuff we once thought we understood in our arrogance, lol...

Being teachable is a huge deal. And listening to those knowledgeable doctors is imperative. I have buried one too many friends of mine along the way here. Even some with long term sobriety who were afraid to ask for that outside help when and if they needed it.

Keep Coming Back. And if anyone ever tells you, you are not clean and sober because you are taking the meds you were prescribed. Fire that person from your list of who you take advice from. I am in the medical community and I do not cotton to that load of bull hockey.

I have heard those that say that crap too, and have nailed them on it, anytime it comes up. And it does come up. Just because it might not be for them a necessary thing, does not mean it is not necessary for you.

Listen to your doctor.

nuff said.

d'anonymous 1

[imadiva]

Thank you I will pass the info on.. One of our friends that attend AA was being judged for taking a RX and I wanted a correct response ...

[LeftWriteFemme]

December 4



Relay



I have waited so long for the chase, the trap, the dig a ditch for safety, to be over and here we are; ringed, safe and surrounded. Now the sweet work of living the life we have striven for, striven to. I now long to be my best, do my best, for you are the best for me and I am the best for you. I tense and press against the blocks; the race I wish to run, but all I knew was to wait.




Explain how petals are different from leaves


*

YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CLOSE WINDOWS
OR KEEP THEM OPEN

Not every open window offers a warm and welcome breeze.
There are windows, which greet with arctic blast and little else.
Frosted cheeks and chapped lips I face these frigid openings
Believing it is my lot to forge ahead in this bluster.

Never did I think to shut the glass on this disagreeable weather.
I am allowed to close windows but I didn’t know it.
Every irksome thing that comes my way is not mine to face.

Many things will pass my way.
This does not make them my responsibility
On the other hand, when spring blows honeysuckle through the air
It is a fine idea to prop the window open with a stick.

[LeftWriteFemme]

December 5



My Most Important Meal


Sweet potato pudding sits on the plate; I sit in my place and wield my spoon until the plate is clean. I’m fed, my day begins. If this is the best part of my day, life is still sweet and fine. Time skips its way through and I meet and greet the splendid and the few. Picking my way, the raindrops step aside; I am gratified, though I never mind the rain. When the mud has settled and my bed calls me home; I look back to the start of the day and pray to begin the next one the very same way.




Look for your eyes in a crowd


*
WATER PROOF

What could water prove anyway?
I get in the water and I get wet.
I’m sure there is a theorem
But a proof is highly doubtful.

Naiads dance with tridents in their hands
Illustrating the beauty and danger of the waves
But this certifies nothing.

Juiceless arid dirt can make no claims either
I see ducks take flight
Pushing the air with their wings
And rivulets trailing from webs.

This is the thing to scoot beneath at the surface,
Take sustenance and pleasure
but never to become so saturated that the air is lost.
Waterproof, is the way to go.

[LeftWriteFemme]

Originally Posted by imadiva

I have a question that I hope someone can answer..

If someone goes to AA and still takes a perscription medication (klonopin) are they considered Clean and Sober !!!!!!! It seems to numb all the feelings that I would think need to be delt with in order to stay sober ...

Thank you in advance ..

Hi, I know this is a Friends of Bill thread, but here is a link to a friends of Jimmy pamphlet you might find helpful. http://www.na.org/admin/include/spaw...%20Illness.pdf


Also I have it on good authority that the book Don't Risk your Recovery will soon be available on Amazon.


Best wishes,
Sherrie

[LeftWriteFemme]

December 6


Flower Power



The man with the chrysanthemum on his head walks up and down the aisle. Do I look like that, I wonder to myself? Have I taken personal style to the point of caricature? What is the boundary by which the embarrassment is kept at bay? Is there a point at which I can overcome who I present myself as, and represent the best of who I can be? Who I might be if only I can manage not to get carried away by impressionism? I am given this dwelling and it suits me quite well, when I treat it as a temple and not simply as a shrine.



Do without some things not everything
*



ALMOST TWINS

You and I are more alike than different
Yet we cannot get along
Though I ponder why this surprises me so.

A cloud and a watermelon are 98 % the same
And no one would mistake them in a crowd
Or expect them to be companionable
Except in the way of two things existing in the universe.

My expectation of liking you for our similarities
Is set up by my fear that I don’t like myself
But the joke is on me.

My dislike of you is not a reflection
Of anything but time and space
My friends are the people who like me
Not necessarily the ones who are like me.

The president didn’t like broccoli
Without slurring its good name
And I can dislike you
Without inferring you are a vegetable

[LeftWriteFemme]

December 7


Anti-Forfeit Activity


I don’t want to write bad, forced, poor, weak, care-worn poems, but I won’t write any good ones if I don’t lift this pen. The embarrassment I might feel for lackluster lines is far less than the shame of empty notebooks. I don’t always like what flows when I open the gates, but I am sure glad the current is live and so am I.




Tie a knot
*







COOCOO’S NEST

I ran away to join the zoo
Hoping a life contained would calm me.
The segregation hit me first
Isolated exclusively with those of my stripe
Drove my thirst for diverse scents and opinion.

Next the monotony of the landscape bore into my brain
The well-meaning efforts of the keepers
Bears the mark of folks who go home at night.

The blandness of the food and music
Lent nothing to the experience
And antiseptic could drive anyone wild.

The final blow, the one which struck constantly and coldly
Was the steady stream of observers
Just waiting to be entertained.

[LeftWriteFemme]

December 8


Night Spaces


When it gets dark it gets dark fast. They say, night falls, though sometimes it feels like it falls down. What is little realized is there is a lifting when the light has gone away, the sky raises its roof and there is more air to breathe. Long lost is the pink wisp that heralded this night and far ahead is the next wisp of pink singing up the moon.



Believe in someone

*


WHAT’S MINE IS MINE

I don’t always know how to get the dog off the baby.
The attacks are often sudden and always swift.
My shock at the reality delays my response.
Falters my steps and fogs my mind.

What should I do to disengage this assault?
What can I do that won’t make things worse?
How can I resolve this now?

The pain is almost unimaginable
But yet all too familiar.
It all comes down to ownership
I must admit this baby is me.

I have to face this dog is my pet.
I have fed and groomed him
And now I have to put this dog to sleep.