The below poems were co created during a Creative Writing Workshop facilitated by Renascent Addictions Counsellor, T.P Sheehan. The workshop’s theme was: connection.

Poem co-created by Clients at Renascent Paul J. Sullivan Centre

Upbringing
Connection is life in between.
I was positively connected with my circle, but went down a dark cave with my feeling echoing negativity.
I need this in my life.
Connection is having that special bond.
Give me courage to stay with my plan and stay sober.
I’m like a shoe in the lost and found. Lost with no soul.
Addiction priorities seclusively over connection.
When you open the door to ears that weren’t there before.
I need to be loved, I need to be needed but my need for power is far greater so I proceed to rip off my human skin sure to believe I’m a blue alien. Praise the sun.
We are all interconnected and our feelings are protected
The connection between myself and I will be stronger than ever, when on this journey to sobriety and recovery.

Poem co-created by Alumni

I am from the land new dreams, new hope, new belongings, postcode C-O-N-N-E-C-T-I-O-N.
I fought monsters with fangs and talons in this armour and sent demons back to hades dragging their guts through the sand down holes of calamity.
I am the alien the blue one.

I am from where jerk chicken meets fish and chips, where the cocaine is really rich,
where the Blue Jays lost themselves in the kick.
I am from managing feelings quietly, from carrying anxiety in my body,
from learning how to cope before I learned how to name what I was feeling.