A recovery poem by Jason N:
Standing on this rooftop
In this beautifully broken home
My city all around me
As far as my eye could roam
The lights and the chatter
Streaming through my mind
The things I can remember
And some I’ve left behind
There’s a quiet desperation
Hanging in the air
Things seem to be in ruins
And it smells of disrepair
There’s roads down there, so many roads
That I’ve often traveled on
A bad turn here, a bad turn there
And I wonder where I’ve gone
The city lights so bright
They seemed to sing out my name
The side streets so bleak and dark
And always filled with shame
But there’s good in this city!
There’s a desire which still burns
And it’s hidden in plain sight
Around every twist and turn
So don’t just stand there angry
And think what this city’s done to you
This city has its own life
And you hurt it a little too
So I’ll be standing on this rooftop
In this perfect time and place
I’ll pray for my city
And gladly defend its case
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For years, men in the addiction recovery program at Helping Up Mission have written poetry as a part of their recovery process. Now, they have gathered, edited, and published a sampling of their writings as a book: War of Grace: Poems from the Front Lines of Recovery.
You can download the ebook and audiobook: free of charge, at:
http://noisetrade.com/helpingupmission/war-of-grace-poetry