by Carol Casey The path is trodden, dusty, level.You know it will take youwhere many have gone. Step off—tangles of brambles,sometimes with blackberries,more often with little clawsthat catch on clothes and skin;and tortuous tree roots—inconvenient, sacred data unearthed—subterranean snakelets somehowsifted into snarls for feet to catch.There are stems that twine…
by Bonnie E. Carlson She dreaded having to make the amends, but it ate away at her. “It’s time,” her sponsor said. “Put on your big girl pants. You’ll feel better when it’s done.” In previous attempts at sobriety, Laurel had never gotten to AA’s steps eight and nine—make a…
by Lana Bella The drinking girl is not dreaming because a dreamer drinks not from thirst but for the tongue craves. With the snug sphericity of a pearl, she meets the long, furious work of humming spree, boothed in stilt bar hugging stein-glassed hands, ropy on the final slogs. Tinny haze synapses into familiar water, waist…
by Daniel Davis Tammy’s fingers drummed against the coffee mug. For the twentieth time in the past hour, she glanced at the cabinet above the fridge, the one she had to use a stepladder to reach. She could see the bottles inside, beckoning. Just a nip, as her grandmother would…
by Mariah Rackliff There is a battle in my head. Daily filling me with dread. I hear a voice say, “Let me in!” “No!” Says another. “I win!” “I’m depression, I think I’ll stay. How long the visit? I can’t say.” “Come closer dear, now just lie down.” I oblige,…