The House that Amy Winehouse Built

"All addicts, regardless of the substance or their social status share a consistent and obvious symptom; they're not quite present when you talk to them. They communicate to you through a barely discernible but un-ignorable veil. Whether a homeless smack head troubling you for 50p for a cup of tea or a coked-up, pinstriped exec foaming off about his ‘speedboat' there is a toxic aura that prevents connection. They have about them the air of elsewhere, that they're looking through you to somewhere else they'd rather be. And of course they are. The priority of any addict is to anaesthetise the pain of living to ease the passage of the day with some purchased relief...All we can do is adapt the way we view this condition, not as a crime or a romantic affectation but as a disease that will kill." Russell Brand 


"And one that, from all indications, murdered her [Amy Winehouse] art five years before it took her life."Chris Willman


The House that Amy Winehouse Built
She chose and purchased the
Building materials and 
Carefully placed the pieces together 
Just the way she liked...
One crack vile on top of the other.
One tumbler of coke side by side.
One carton of cigarettes a day.
Marijuana as caulk to hold it all in place,
As needed... for the walls.


Once the walls were built and sturdy
She started on the roof to keep out 
The elements of surprise:
Love, honesty and truth.
The materials used were
Vile words spit with vehemence at
Anyone who got too close -
Sarcasm, bitterness, evil looks through
Slit unseeing eyes veiled with absence.
The roof was done and what did she
Forget...


But a door to come and go as she pleased...
Or to let others in - you see, she couldn't see
That people wanted more from her than 
Her talent or fame and so she built a 
House around her to avoid the pain of the
Reality that only drugs seemed to drain
Every ounce of life from her and cause so
Many pain at her permanent absence that 
Began shortly after her addiction had her
In its grip... she purchased false relief and 
Built this house that became her tomb...
Piece by piece and puff after puff and now
She's through building the house that 
Killed her.