Holding life together
once we’ve discovered
we can’t, we lack power,
our lives unmanageable —
we grab hold of strings,
hang on to the rope’s end,
try to rescue ourselves.
Sometimes we get the food,
try the weigh-and-pay
with public weighing,
with praise, with tokens,
with manipulation.
Or we accept we’ll never
ever lose the weight,
we’ll be big and beautiful,
proud, defiant…pretend.
Or starve ourselves,
regurgitate all nutrients,
exercise for hours on end.
But it won’t hold together,
not for long.

We need a whole plan,
to address it all,
needs spiritual, emotional
physical. We find a way,
set out twelve principles,
weave in folks who know us,
tighten the pattern with tools,
act as if when we don’t understand —
then look back
and the strings aren’t single,
the strength exceeds all strands
and the fabric of our lives
can stand all tests.