HONORABLE MENTION – THE 2019 SANDY CRIMMINS
NATIONAL PRIZE IN POETRY
Post Rehab
by Claire Scott
they taught us to pray mother to our lord
jesus for strength to refuse
the call of meth of vodka of vicodin
to call our sponsor eat three
meals a day fresh berries mother
& broccoli run a mile each morning
they say keep a gratitude journal
pages filled with purple ink
mother mine is empty
midnight visitors to keep money
coming to keep me in needles
mother & crystal meth
mother I can’t wait any
speed no longer
rehab has ruined
I pour another glass, fill a syringe
drinking darkness as jesus
dances on the cross
Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and Healing Muse among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.