A Good Space
(AA Open Meeting)
Of course, I begin by saying
I’m not an alcoholic.
Having established
difference, I slip off my shoes
under the harsh lights of this
municipal hall, the people around me
with similar threaded years of
struggle and fear, shunting stop-
starts; able to laugh at themselves.
Minute by minute,
day by day, they wrestle their demons;
make it here sometimes just
to sit mute.
If you created a religion
you could do worse than this:
all welcome, no questions asked;
a working doctrine of self-help.
Christ would be
at home here if he were alive today,
away from the diktats and discord
of Churches:
to where people lay down
burdens, pick them up again, lighter.