Coming Clean, A Poem About Addiction

I'm pretty sure we're an addicted culture. We're addicted to video games, food, pornography, drugs, gossip, the internet, magazines, you name it. How many people are comfortable sitting at home, alone, in silence? No, we need things. It's more than a need, though. In a way, it's a craving.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am trying to take addiction head-on in a new book of poetry that I'm working on. My goal is to finish it sometime this year. In a way, I'm just trying to make sense of my life, and who I am. But, really, who isn't trying to do that?

I'm leery about posting my poems online. It's weird for me, because I don't usually share them with everyone, or anyone. But, the poem is here. I hope it shows the destructive nature of our addictive lifestyles. Feel free to leave a comment or two to let me know what you think about it. Hope you enjoy!

“Coming Clean”

He clenched a ball of fire in his fist

And ate it like you would eat an apple

Bite by bite.

He wished it didn’t burn so much

But what can you do when you’re addicted to the

Blue

Orange

Dancing flames.

His mother caught him licking live coals

When he was fourteen.

Ever since then

He’d been afraid of losing his tongue.

So now he just inhales the heat

And tastes the flames.

But still, he misses the feel

Of the coals

Searing his tongue.

Maybe just one last ember.