My Name is Winnie the P., And I Am An Alcoholic

I was reading a great book while I was on vacation, called The Dark Night of Recovery by Edward Bear and in it the sponsor (wrinkled and crotchety 30 year sober guy) recommends four books for the new sponsee (15 years sober, dry as a stick attorney): The Big Book, the 12x12, a book on Winnie the Pooh and The I Ching. I couldn't find the book on Winnie the Pooh at the eclectic book store near where we were staying, but I did find a great book called the The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff which was more than sufficed for my purposes. The sponsor in the Dark Night book would give reading assignments to this guy, Big Brain that he was, and have him report back in two weeks with a report on how these readings helped him understand the step they were working on... Fascinating book.

As I read The Tao of Pooh with the hope of finding more 1st step wisdom, I came across a song/poem of Winnie the Pooh's (original author was A.A. Milne...how serendipity is that?!) called "Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie". According to the author of the Tao of Pooh, this poem captures the essence of Taoism in that it basically is saying that we are already perfect just as we are, we don't need to change anything. In his view, one could replace the "Cottleston" verse with "Inner Nature" or "what is, what is".

Anyway, as I'm apt to do, I decided to memorize the Cottleston rhyme two days ago and after saying it over and over again the last two days, I began to understand the truth hidden deep within it and how much it spoke to me about my recovery and my alcoholism. Especially my 1st Step and how I got sober and how I've been able to stay sober. Yesterday, I started trying to take this rhyme and revise it in such a way that it spoke more clearly of my own truth and within a few attempts I was able to come up with my own version of the Cottleston rhyme that speaks more truthfully of my own experience of getting and staying sober. It's an AA poem of sorts: I say that because 2/3s of it are stolen from someone else's spiritual writings. True AA.

My name is Winnie the Pooh, and I am an alcoholic.

Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie

Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie
A fish can't whistle, neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie

Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie
Why does a chicken... I don'know why!
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie
　
It is or it isn't; I am or I amn't
A drink can't drunk, but a drunk can sober.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
It is or it isn't; I am or I amn't

It is or it isn't; I am or I amn't
A drunk can't drink, and neither can I!
Ask me a riddle and I reply
It is or it isn't; I am or I amn't

It is or it isn't; I am or I amn't
Why does an alcoholic...i don't know why!
Ask me a riddle and I reply
It is or it isn't; I am or I amn't

Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie

Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie
A fish can't whistle, neither can I.
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie

Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie
Why does a chicken... I don'know why!
Ask me a riddle and I reply
Coddleston, Coddleston, Coddleston Pie

My name is Winnie the Pooh, and I am an alcoholic.

Take Care!

Mike L.