.
RSVP — and we do respond don't we?
gussying up for the grand event
the stepsisters
dressing and undressing
the prince breathing into his hand
testing his breath
Rapunzel with her fine-tooth comb
insecurity
working like a worm in a winesap

all that time and attention
all that fuss and bother
that mirror mirror on the wall business all that
just to get past self-doubt
and on to the gala affair
where above the noise and din
someone can shout
come on in
and name your poison!
and we do respond don't we?

the worm turning here
to quickly demolish the reflected image
that had seemed so important
in the glass
on the outside of the door
the spit and polish dissolving
in the glass on the inside
till Cinderella is out of her shoes
the heir to the throne
puking on the floor
and coming undone before our eyes
Rapunzel
really letting her hair down

and don't think you can avoid
the transformation
by avoiding the drink
in situations such as these
a non-drinker has a drinking problem too

my abstinence
making me appear to you
like a grumpy giant
a bad-tempered troll
my sobriety
taken as a clear reflection on present company
and when Snow White is into the apples
she wants nothing to do with a mirror
+++
..

..........AFTERWORD — All through my life alcohol has always been a big bugaboo. Never had a problem with addiction myself, as I am too much of an egotist to like the feeling of being out of control. One martini and then water in the glass with an olive for the rest of the evening. But I was raised by an alcoholic mother who, to her credit, did get on the program and was clean and sober for the last 18 years of her life. This didn’t help me as a kid growing up however.
..........My wife was a teetotaler when we married, and I constantly insisted she become a social drinker. She did — and got caught and run down by the booze. When things were totally out of control I realized that I was going to have to quit social drinking if I expected her to stop, which I did – and soon discovered that all of my hard drinking buddies didn’t want a sober person present when they were on a toot! In a sense I was shunned.
..........An interesting side light to Billie Barbara's recent bout with dementia. I am told that more often than not an angry drunk (which Billie was) is an angry Alzheimer’s patient - while a loving drunk is a loving Alzheimer's patient. In fact about 6 months ago Billie was having these fits of unreasonable anger mostly at me. That is when we took her to the head doctor who diagnosed her condition and prescribed two drugs (Aricept and Namenda) and like magic Billie Barbara immediately became her normal loving self. "Better living through chemistry"
..........But back to the subject at hand -- of course my abstinence was well worth it, as a few months later Billie Barbara got on the AA program. She has been clean and sober for 24 years now. My son has been a drinker and drug user since he was in Junior High, and he is finally at age 50 surfacing. I think this time for sure!!!
..........This poem grew out of the mulch of all these experiences over all these years.

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