Addiction

 addiction is a craving for unmet needs

we’re too ashamed to name.

addiction is what happens

when your inner child screams

and no one notices.

addiction is a prayer

in a language

your parents never learned

because their parents never listened.

addiction taught me loyalty.

i just had it pointed the wrong way.

if you strip shame

from the word addict

you’ll find

a 6-year-old

afraid of the dark

offering you a crayon

and a half-written poem

called “please stay.”

my addiction wasn’t the problem.

it was the solution to a problem

nobody else could solve.

you can’t punish the fire for doing

what the frostbite made necessary.

every time i look in the mirror

i see every relapse as a rough draft

for the poem that finally learned

how to breathe.