Poetry is my passion and what helped me to float when I surfaced after more than a decade drowning in the drink. It’s my go-to VACI, where I channeled the heady pink cloud, and the best tool I had in my rather empty pockets to manage trauma, grief, and self-criticism in the ugly wake of alcohol myopia. It’s one of the pillars on which I rebuilt my identity, one of the places where I found community, and how I navigated dating without drinking.
My debut book of poems, The Dark Dance, explores the themes from my blog in parallel. But the poems are much more personal, vulnerable, and raw.
You can buy the book on Amazon or read reviews on my poetry website.
Same stuff, different format.
The Dark Dance is broken into five “songs,” each of which is tied to a post on this blog where readers can explore the psychological, social, and cultural conditions that brewed and infused my poems.
Here are the links to each corresponding blog post. The songs are meant to represent the chapters of my recovery experience:
- Serpent Song: Broken Souls Sing Bitter Music — the entrapment of freefall into alcohol abuse
- Secret Song: Last Gasp and Going Under — the blunders and misfortunes that led me to quit
- Salvation Song: Letters to the Limitless Self — the rush of recovery and identity change
- Squall Song: Rebirth and Body Bellows — the heady and sometimes-dangerous liftoff into new beginnings (what the recovery community calls the “pink cloud”)
- Shadow Song: The Dark Road to Dawn — the settling into a more stable, but still inspired, sober rhythm
Find out more in my author’s note and read the first few poems here. You can also listen to the Spotify playlist I curated to match the tone and flow of the collection.
If you like reading my blog and want to give The Dark Dance a shot — no pun intended (she’s been cut off!) — I truly hope you enjoy.
—Dana G
Some Like It Sober 