A Poet's Blog: Roger N.Taber shares his thoughts & poems...

Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian and poet-novelist.- "Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Sexuality ... these are but parts of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to critical emails about my poetry. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

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Location: London, United Kingdom

Sadly, a bad fall in 2012 has left me with a mobility problem, and being diagnosed with prostate cancer the same year hasn't helped, but I get out and about with my trusty walking stick as much as I can, take each day as it comes and try to keep looking on the bright(er) side of life. Many of my poems reflect the need to nurture a positive-thinking mindset whatever life throws at us.

Friday, 1 June 2012

Alcoholic Anonymous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Stress is never easy to deal with, and few of us can cope alone. We need help and should not be afraid or embarrassed to ask for it;ironically, when we most need help the human ego so  fears rejection that it will often go for self-destruct.

There are no quick fixes, and drug abuse of any kind is never the answer. 

Too many people are far too complacent about their daily alcohol intake. I am not unsympathetic. Even so, alcoholics, like all drug addicts ruin not only their own lives but effectively take family and friends more than part of the way with them.

Why do people become addicts.More often than not it is the old cause-and-effect syndrome. Discover why, and there is a chance the addict may yet be saved from the worst.

The modern world is fast and furious. Not everyone can keep up. We need to understand once and for all that there is no shame in asking for help. Some fool once commented to me that asking for help is a coward's way; on the contrary, it is heroic.

Oh, and never think for one minute that alcohol is not a drug.

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international organization that can help alcoholics help themselves. Here in the UK, call 0800 9177 650 (for free) or email: help@aamail.org NOW. If you think or know you have a serious drink problem, taking this small first step is a giant leap towards getting your life back.

ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS 

Like a fish out of water gasping for air,
clinging on for dear life to a cheap
can of beer, almost past caring any more,
glad to let myself fall though unwilling
to take you with me (you deserve better)
flailing, half-dead, but left to my own
meagre devices. May survive or may not,
each to our own choices, whether it be
win, lose, drift along woebegone, food
for fishes or some poor fisherman casting
a line from posterity’s shelf, shades
of myself before I went looking for more
(in a can of beer) bored with the sheer
predictability of family, job, hooks reeling
me into a limbo now serving me up
on a plate of a street where friends seem
to have forgotten who I am so I don’t
try to catch their eyes any more, doesn’t
come as any surprise any more, don’t
even want to think beyond the next drink ,
avoid local bars in case someone sees
(Just one more, bartender, PLEASE…)

Floating face down in a sea of algae,
not a smile to cling to, no hint of caring
in dead eyes staring straight ahead,
waves of indifference crashing on me,
putting me down, hauling me up, only
to toss me back with all the contempt
of a fisherman for minnows competing
for Angler of the Year, a title bringing
fame and beer (for years) at the local pub
where I used to drink my fill; too often
some would say - and how I find myself
here, as good as dead in the water

[Note: A slightly different version of this poem appears in 1st eds. of A Feeling For The Quickness Of Time by R. N. Taber, Assembly Books, 2010; 2nd ed. in preparation.]

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