52connect Blog, August 2, 2025

 

I just posted a recent poem on the Work In Progress page, that alcoholics may connect with, "They Don't Know Me". The piece is very literal, without much mystery, inuendo or metaphor. That literal aspect of poems associated with addiction and recovery is something I did not predict. I thought the work for my poetry collection would be filled with all sorts of literary devices, but that’s not how its turned out.

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When writing these poems, I’m intent on an unambiguous message. That is not intentional. I really would like to show off some poetry chops here, but I have this voice inside me that is in early recovery. That voice is screaming “Keep it simple!”

The only thing keeping all this writing as poetry is my desire to keep it short and interesting, because I recall how much I loathed reading recovery essays and books in those early days. So, here I am trying to write short, interesting poems, but not be very poetic about it.

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This may all change as I lose some of the fear involved. My fear here is being so showy in the poetry, the message is lost. That kind of ambiguity is at many times the idea of a poem.

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Despite pride, I will admit it’s clear that if I were a good poet, I could craft poetry with every literary tool available and still be assured of a clear message. That day may come and hopefully it’s before I get to 52 poems.

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I appreciate everyone’s patience on this. Thanks for reading.

 

Kash