The Wind of My Soul

After Cat Stevens' "The Wind..."

I listened to the wind
to the wind of my soul

Where I'll end up
Only God really knows

I lived upon the setting sun
But only, ever, ever, ever...
I only asked for water once

I listened to the words
to the words of my heart

They traveled down
down very far below

I swim upon the Devil's lake
Now forever, ever, ever...
I'll ever pay for that mistake

New Wild World

for LAS...

After I gave all myself to you
You went off to start something new
And you broke my heart with you're leavin'
I'm still grievin'

But now that you've gone, take good care
I hope you have a lot of nice things to wear
But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
I'll always remember you like a child, girl

By now I've seen a lot of what the world can do
And it's breakin' my heart in two
Because I never wanna hear that you're sad girl
Don't be a bad girl

But now that you've gone, take good care
I hope you made a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
I'll always remember you like a child, girl

Baby, I loved you
But now that you've gone, take good care
I hope you made a lot of nice friends out there
But just remember there's a lot of bad and beware

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
It's hard to get by just upon a smile

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world
I'll always remember you like a child, girl...

After Cat Steven's "Wild World"...

Ancient Secrets

solemn spruces stand tall
shoulder to shoulder
reaching toward the moon
telling their ancient secrets
to one another

I just watched a documentary about Julia "Butterfly" Hill, and I remembered I had penned this poem last year...

Butterfly Hill became an environmental activist at the end of the 1990's after a severe automobile crash. Her notoriety came after a 738 day stay 180 feet above the ground in a 600-year-old California Redwood named "Luna." Her protest was supported by EarthFirst, and was the beginning of her Circle of Life Foundation.

www.circleoflifefoundation.org

www.earthfirst.org

Daydreamer

in the style of kameleon's "As Night, Death is Nigh"

Mutating thoughts rang furious,
usurping my painted memory,
encroaching upon indulgent daydream visions
of curvy girls with perfect jugs...

ACOA

Poison blood, venom wine!
Yesterday's alcoholic mystery concealed.
There's a constancy of anger,
With forgiveness and sin, my enigma.

Whiskey River

inspired by my parents...

We rode the crest
of a million whiskey tears,
And outlived the rest
in hellish years...


My name is W. Gregory, and I am an Adult Child of an Alcoholic.

Many Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs) have found that they have several characteristics in common as a result of being brought up in an alcoholic or other dysfunctional household.
They have come to feel isolated, and uneasy with other people, especially authority figures. To protect themselves, they have become people-pleasers, even though they have lost their our own identities in the process. All the same, they mistake any personal criticism as a personal threat.

They have either become alcoholics themselves, marry them, or both. Failing that, they have found other compulsive personalities, such as a workaholism, to fulfill their sick need for abandonment.

They live life from the standpoint of a victim. Having an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, they prefer to be concerned with others rather than themselves. They get guilty feelings when they trust themselves, and ultimately give in to others. They become reactors rather than actors, letting others take initiative.

They have dependent personalities, are terrified of abandonment, and are willing to do almost anything to hold on to relationships in order not to be abandoned emotionally. They keep choosing insecure relationships because they match their childhood relationships with alcoholic or dysfunctional parents.

These symptoms of the family disease of alcoholism or other dysfunction made them "co-victims," ones who took on the characteristics of the disease without necessarily ever taking a drink. They learned to keep their feelings down as children, and keep them buried as adults. As a result of this conditioning, they often confuse love with pity, tending to love those they can rescue.

Even more self-defeating, they become addicted to excitement in all their affairs, preferring constant upset and chaos to workable solutions.

This is a description, not an indictment.

paraphrased from www.adultchildren.org/lit/Problem.s without permission...

Pretty Contents

Found my being satisfied with pretty content
pretty well contends with my
just being pretty content with myself...