Bourbon waves, tequila skies, champagne clouds, and whiskey highs. formed the landscapes of my youth; even drowned some sorrows with vermouth. Grottoes of gin, and scotch on the beach, led to shores of schnapps, their flavour: peach. Sobriety seemed boring, and lacking appeal, although so many memories now seem surreal. Red wine roses, Cabernet trees, Merlot mountains with a Riesling breeze, convinced the cure to my endless pain, lay at the bottom of each bottle, in vain. Fields of lager, rivers of pale ale, streets of rye and ginger-ale, often had me stumbling, slurring my words, still, I returned to this wasted water world. Rum rain-forests, and cider shrines, sake blossoms with liqueurs so fine, I should never have chased these alcohol dreams, that destroyed my liver, and my self-esteem.
Accident-prone yet bulletproof, resilience courses through my veins. After pulling shrapnel from my own hell-bent self-destruction, all I was left with was me. Through embracing my darkness, I found the light. Here lives a collection of poetry, prose, and reflections on trauma, survival, desire, and becoming.