Lift maintenance. Please hold. Your call is important to us.

Author: harker | May 27th, 2009
harker's picture

I stepped into a lift one day and a voice said 'Press D'.

'What's D for?', I asked, instinctively. Looking around, I saw a small speaker set in the steel wall. The voice came from there.

D is for diagnosis', it said. 'Silly. Go on, press it, you ordered the blood test. You can’t back out now.'

Ten months later, I was still stuck in the lift.

'OK, press R' and you’re out of here.

'R?'

'R is for remission - slow coach!'

I pressed R and the doors opened. I stepped out, into an empty lobby. I wondered where I was. Still do.

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harker's picture

Re: Lift maintenance. Please hold. Your call is important ...

Posted by harker - 28 May 2009 - 13:05

Thank you 'artist in recovery'. I do like that.

artist_in_recovery's picture

Re: Lift maintenance. Please hold. Your call is important ...

Posted by artist_in_recovery - 28 May 2009 - 13:00

Hi Hugh,
You make some very valid points. I think the whole point of giving yourself a different username is all about maintaining some sort of anonimity in the "online world" - but certainly I'll send you my email via the private message function on this site and we can continue discussing the benefits of writing.

harker's picture

Re: Lift maintenance. Please hold. Your call is important ...

Posted by harker - 28 May 2009 - 12:52

I'm 54 years old. I live in Melbourne. I'm wondering now about why I'm not using my real name. How do you feel about that? I am very interested in how writing can be a part of recovery - not a therapy in itself, but a therapeutic experience - cathartic, as you accurately call it. Interesting things can happen.

I liked your poem.

My real name is Hugh.

I want to share creatively, but not with an on-line facade. You don't have to agree. I want to keep this going, either way.

Cheers.
Hugh Kiernan

artist_in_recovery's picture

Re: Lift maintenance. Please hold. Your call is important ...

Posted by artist_in_recovery - 28 May 2009 - 10:41

Hi Harker - you write well, I always found it a cathartic practice when I was in the process of diagnosis, treatment and all the horrid stages that followed. I do indeed have many more - probably too many! I'll try and put a few in my blog here for you - some are a bit self-indulgent, but I suppose that's part of the experience. How old are you Harker and where are you from?