“Unbottled! ... reflections of a female alcoholic”

PARTING OF THE WAYS

We’ve come a long way you and I.
As a young girl you watched me from afar,
You beckoned me, teased me, flirted with me.
You manufactured my good times,
You courted my affection.

As a young woman we became one you and I,
You lived in me.
You presented me to others in so many guises.
You acted and spoke through me.
You brought people to me,
Then you sent them away.
Some never returned.

You transformed my looks, my face, my body.
Released from me an onerous stench.
You pruned the desires of my heart and centred my mind.
I was enslaved by your power.

In maturity you captured my whole being.
I attended to your every whim.
Now it’s time for a parting of the ways.
The love affair has ended, the glass is drained,
I now see you for what you are, an addiction.

THE FEMALE ALCOHOLIC

The word alcoholic screams condemnation into her situation.
It drowns the female enigma with unrelenting stigma.
It’s not an illness now it’s a disease,
Prompting shock reactions and making people ill at ease.
It creates all sorts of images,
The down and out, the thug.
The woman if ill repute,
Touting business in the pub.
The lazy, thoughtless Mother,
The wine swilling, stinking lover.

Please describe her in some way,
So she can fight another day.
Struggling with her illness is no mean feat,
But the label ‘alcoholic’ is designed to have her beat.

ONE DRINK?

I took another drink today and lost a bit of me.
Alcohol had won again and laughed at me in glee.
Angry with myself, I quickly filled my glass
Just another and my sense of failure would pass.
It did; So foolishly I plied myself again,
How did that drink I had today suddenly become ten?

SWAP is a local community project at St Francis' Church, Bramley and the support of the following agencies is greatly appreciated: Coalfield Regeneration Trust, Church Urban Fund, St Agatha's Trust, NHS Rotherham and The Church and Community Fund