Dedicated to @stevegetssober I rest my chin on your freshly-cleaned frame,The gentlest breeze brushingMy wide-eyed gaze. You’re so close to me. For a moment(An intimate moment)I am dazzled.How your light burnsAnd penetrates my soul. You’re so near. I close my eyesAnd I see what you sawin meThe impression etched deepRemaining. We’re next to each other. […]
Category: Writing
Body Hair
Dedicated to @MrsHamster1 It was still early. You could tell by the way the penetrating sunlight fell on the bedroom wall, the shadow of the bellowing net curtain dancing to a silent tune and heralding a new dawn. I had that usual momentary groan as I contemplated another day where my world ended at the […]
Toolkit
Dedicated to @Robert58585858 It was a Sunday ritual as sacred and important to me as the one I had attended that morning at the local church. Where the smells of incense and candles were replaced with those of sawdust and motor oil, and where the hymnals and sacred books were the Haynes Automotive series and […]
What a Difference a Year Makes – Part II
This time last year I made a connection with a New Zealand woman through #RecoveryPosse on Twitter. We had both received the same book for Christmas, a series of letters from celebrities written to their 16-year-old selves. Inspired by this we decided to do the same and posted our respective letters on our blogs. From that […]
What a Difference a Year Makes – Part I
This time last year I made a connection with a New Zealand woman through #RecoveryPosse on Twitter. We had both received the same book for Christmas, a series of letters from celebrities written to their 16-year-old selves. Inspired by this we decided to do the same and posted our respective letters on our blogs. From […]
Gingerbread
It’s a simple enough activity to do with children, a bit of Christmas baking. This time my little boy wanted to make “Gingerbread mens” and gave enough forewarning of this desire for me to get myself nice and worked up at the prospect of baking with the children. Now, I should point out that I […]
Haunted by Unspeakable Monsters
“I have now been made Assistant Headteacher; why am I not yet content?” This is a line from a sketchy version of a journal I kept off-and-on for a few years. I found the book buried in my sock drawer this morning and opened it up. I haven’t looked at it since I got sober […]
That Don’t Surprise I!
I want to take you back in time to the late-eighties and early nineties; it was a very different place to be back then for a gay man. Section 28 was still alive and kicking and equal marriage wasn’t even a wishful thought – more a seemingly impossible dream. Gay men were viewed with suspicion […]
A Reflection on “Accepting Help” from Letting Go of the Thief by Pamela Pesta
When I was a child I remember several mentions in my report cards of my reluctance to ask for help. For me, I believe, my reasons were more out of fear of humiliation than from any desire for control or a belief that I knew best. I constantly had this feeling of being “less than” […]
The Eye
For the last year or more my little made-up eye has been staring out at you from behind a ripped piece of paper. The response to my avatar is always mixed; sometimes it makes people feel uncomfortable, sometimes it generates questions (the latest one being “Who did your make up?”) and others still greet it […]
Misery Contest 