We Know the Rules

We are compulsive eaters.
We have been for a while
and so we've learned the diets,
the tricks, the quick fixes,
the mind games, 
the wardrobe gimmicks.
We've joined programs,
paid great sums, clipped plans
from magazines, tried them,
succeeded before we failed.
We've had injections, pills,
ear studs, hypnosis, 
analysis, therapy.
We know the rules.

We are writers, and have been
for a while, learning what to do,
what to avoid, how to show, not tell.
how to break dialogue, 
keep a consistent point of view.
We avoid cliches like the plague,
apply similes like fertilizer,
spreading the smelly stuff,
our metaphor for variety.
We are writers who know the rules
and watch best-sellers break them all,
ignoring them, and getting read still.

We are compulsive eaters
who know the rules but we also know
the issues, the reasons, the way out
and that rules have a place but the rules
will never bring recovery
without that magic touch,
that knowing application
of the twelve simple steps
that are not rules but a way of life
that allows us not to be tied to rules
but to live free.