Sonnet: Twelve-Step Litanies Poem by Richard St. Clair

Recovery through deceit, intimidation,
Peer-group pressure, cracker-barrel values,
Higher-power contemplation rationed
Daily, weekly, served up with a callous
Hand, a heavy dose of righteousness
Combined with virulent displays of toxic
Rhetoric, stale adages, a mess
Of gross polemic, street talk, specious logic...

Why on earth attend a twelve-step meeting?
When abuse is all the love we’ve ever known
A dread of gentle nurturance keeps beating
Down our hopes lest, thoughtful, we be shown
The quiet truth which can, if mystically,
Get to the root and make us whole and free.