When I Write

i need to establish some kind of routine
when i write
and i’m writing again
now
properly
at long last
 
when i’m locked into
a ridiculous never-ending drinking bender
(like the Paris thing)
i don’t write
not properly
 
i slide around in utter chaos
recording flashes of the bender
in shaky stream of consciousness note form
one moment
and wallow in devastating mind blanks
and sleazy drunken sex hookups
next moment
 
real work occurs in a kind of way
that is sober and steady
though still unmeasured and unplanned
it has the comforting foundation
of safe and calm
 
drinking writing never comes under the title
of writing properly
although i got that bizarre piece
about my “appalling behavior” (in Paris)
down on paper
major drinking bender and all
so who the fuck knows

Originally Published in Stephen's chapbook "real and unreal" by ICOE Press Australia (2018).

Also Published by - Rye Whiskey Review (2020).

Stephen House has won many awards and nominations as a poet, playwright and actor, including two Awgie Awards from The Australian Writer’s Guild, Rhonda Jancovic Poetry Award for Social Justice, and The Goolwa Poetry Cup, and nominations including, a Greenroom Best Actor Award, Tom Collins Poetry Prize, Patrick White Playwright Award and Queensland Premier’s Drama Award. He’s received several international literature residencies from The Australia Council for the Arts and an Asia-link India residency. His chapbook “real and unreal” was published by ICOE Press. His next book is out soon. He performs his acclaimed monologues widely.