Call Me Survivor Poem by Chip Schaller

My last name isn't alcoholic
Addict not my middle name
Why should addiction pre-define me?
Won't accept some branded shame

I'm a person, not a stigma
Wanting self-respect like you
If you're predisposed to labels
Survivor is the one I use

Infected by trite typecasting
Assuming, pigeon-holing minds
Persuaded by this caustic branding
Judgmental glasses make them blind

We all see life through different fishbowls
Theirs is a departure from mine
They can't swim in their tight schools
Then draw me with a chalk outline

Keep your name of alcoholic
Recovery sheep who blindly see
Stamp yourself with scorching stigmas
Your tired steps no use to me

Can't empathy be the leading horse?
Pointing the way to affinity?
Instead of a mule, reined off the course
Pulled by the nose away from reality

I will not call me alcoholic
Forget about drug addict too
I'm a person with thoughts, with feelings
A human being just like you

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Note - this should not be construed as denouncing AA or any community groups, all of which I support. This is just what I was feeling at the time that I wrote it.