What I Am

I am a sugar addict
and compulsive overeater,
recovering. I say "recovering"

with compulsive overeater
but not with sugar addict.
Why? Because like an alcoholic
who takes that first drink
I fall back into the pit
with a dab of sugar.
Oh, I can mask it for a day or two
but it's there. And absent
the daily maintenance
of a proper spiritual condition
I'm off and running,
under its control.
So, why recovering?
Because I've got some days
since that last compulsive bite,
that last sugar, and I am.
Recovering, that is.
I would like to say
like those alcoholics in 1939
that I am of "more than
one hundred men and women
who have recovered
from a seemingly hopeless state
of mind and body.
To show other alcoholics
precisely how we have recovered

is the main purpose of this book."
Maybe I'll get there someday,
but today I can only say,
but I can say,
"I am a recovering compulsive overeater."