re: newer poem~!

Over a month ago:

I decided to quit

Drinking

It was about the third

Time this year

But this time it took

And I enjoy

Waking up

In the morning

Without a crushing hangover

A dry pasty mouth

Reeling from a blackout

Worried about what I said

The night before

Online while drunk

Reacting emotionally

And wondering why no one

Had invented a breathalyzer

For computers

Before posting stupid things

On the inter-webs

Nope

It has been over a month

And I noticed

Something different

This time around

The improvement

Of my overall

Well being mentally

And physically

Just feeling so much

Better instead

Of so much bitter

Has been an incredible

Boost for my mind

And spirit

I realized

I was hitting

The bottle out of sadness

Loneliness

Anger and self-pity

And had been for a long time

Most of my life

Has been about

Dealing with loss

Loss of home

Of family life

Of language

Of culture

Of various anchor

Points in my life

Like my grandfather

My grandmother

Both were

Storytellers

Both knew our land

And language so well

They were intertwined

My parents

Had both been through

Residential schools

And were in many ways

Broken

So trying to raise a child

In that broken

Was never easy or

Even possible

Perhaps?

Anyway

I quit drinking

And feel all the better

For it

I knew its time had come.