Member-only story
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.”- Japanese proverb
On a cloudy Sunday morning,
an aging AA guru
sets up chairs on a beach,
a circle on the sand.
Members share their tales
of grief and loss.
The same story of relapse
and sobriety
to the backdrop of cresting waves
and baby gulls
that don’t stray too far
from their momma.
Life is an undertow
of people, places, and things.
Urchins buried at sea,
shells washed ashore
but the circle remains
on the beach of 12-step recovery,
sharing war stories,
wounds that open and close
with the tide,
a disease that eludes
one’s control.
There are fishermen
casting out their lines
like patient mystics
waiting for enlightenment.
There are paddle-boarders
balancing on unsteady water…
