16 Comments
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David MacGregor's avatar

My grand nephew

Died of fentanyl

I gotta grudge

you wouldn’t believe

against ppl

who love war

and let children

die in the streets

a grudge

you

would not

believe

Sending billions

for fireworks

To brighten the sky

And entertain

The Devil

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C. James Desmond's avatar

Sorry for your loss, friend.

Nice poem, though!

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David MacGregor's avatar

just ordered your darn book. 20 bucks Canadian which is the Canuck dollar these days

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C. James Desmond's avatar

Many thanks, David! Must be shipping costs, right? Hope you enjoy, friend.

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mia's avatar

this is bloody brilliant. I can't decide whether the dialogue makes me want to laugh or cry which is always an indication of genius. thank you

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C. James Desmond's avatar

No genius here. Just seven years of revision. But this comment did make me blush...

Thank YOU, mia.

Having a rough day and this helped.

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mia's avatar

all good things take time and thoughts; goethe spent three decades on faust haha.

and you're very welcome. also, I'm glad I made someone blush today; now that gave a nice pinkish hue to this blue shit day. if you're still feeling not too well later, maybe have a lollipop. I can never take the world too seriously with a lollipop in my mouth. it's stupid, but it does work a lot of the time.

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C. James Desmond's avatar

Thanks for the tip.

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Yolanda D.'s avatar

This was a very raw and disruptive story. I wanted to reach through the page and give Joseph a hug. After everything he was up against, they still berated him in front of all the other staff members. You could see the ink bleed off the pages! Why isn't there any compassion among these patients? 🖤🤍

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C. James Desmond's avatar

Mob mentality. Men like to gang up on the weaklings in a group. And addicts will do anything to think they're better than other addicts, even if they won't admit it.

The old adage "At least I'm not as bad as him."

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Jäger Take the Wheel's avatar

Nice chapter! I remember my first time in detox, I had no idea what to expect. I was secluded in a white room with nothing but a pen in paper, prohibited from any contact with other patients due to it being the beginning of the Covid era. We do recover!

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C. James Desmond's avatar

Some of us do. Unfortunately, most of us die.

While AA helps some, it can also be just as sordid as the streets. Sometimes I think of putting my own program together with my own big book.

I've been in that white room, too. Thanks for the comment, brother. Appreciate your continued support.

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Marianne Daigh's avatar

If you do, cut the part where you hear how insane and defective you are every day .. like yeah, don’t worry we already think so, perhaps it’s part of the problem?

AA chip on the shoulder opinions aside — this is really good! 👏

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C. James Desmond's avatar

Agreed. All talking about drugs all day every day in meetings made me want to do was more drugs.

Thank you!

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Marianne Daigh's avatar

Sometimes I do still go if I’m feeling particularly shitty and it can help but addiction is not the centre of us and there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with us. We’re ok! Just people :)

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C. James Desmond's avatar

Everyone finds a different way out of the dark.

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