STORY AND POEM OF THE MONTH

Picks for the month of September very kindly chosen by airyfairy:
 
 
We say this every month, but ABC Tales is genuinely on a roll at the moment, with wonderful work from familiar and new faces.  Choosing this month's Picks has been a really enjoyable struggle, and a privilege.  The choices for story and poem have very similar themes, but I make no apology for that.  They were both just stunning pieces of work.
Please do read all the mentions, if you haven't already.
 
Story of the Month is Celticman's 'relapse prevention therapy':  https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/relapse-prevention-therapy  Like all the very best stories, it scoops you up at the first word and doesn't let go until the last.  It makes you feel and think, and you're not quite the same when you've finished it.  Both complex and completely readable, it's a great piece of work.  
 
Honourable mentions go to:
 
Noo's rich, luscious 'Moon', a calendar of seasons and emotions, mysterious, magical and just a tad scary: https://www.abctales.com/story/noo/moon 
 
rosaliekempthorne's marvellous 'Gone', where absence becomes a tangible thing, and the structures of a relationship dissolve one by one:  https://www.abctales.com/story/rosaliekempthorne/gone 
 
Poem of the Month is Ralph's 'Soul Boy':  https://www.abctales.com/story/ralph/soul-boy It's beautifully constructed, calmly giving the details of a teenage life truncated and diverted into long lasting sadness.  It manages to tell the story of that life with not one superfluous word.  You won't forget it.
 
The honourable mentions go to:
 
Philip Sidney's beautiful 'DIY', which gives us redecorating as archaeology, taking the layers of a relationship right back to the beginning:  https://www.abctales.com/story/philip-sidney/diy 
 
Poetonahill's 'Wedding Reception', a warm, funny, rambunctious slice of life, instantly recognisable, a reminder of the wonder and often sheer stupidity of being human:  https://www.abctales.com/story/poetonahill/wedding-reception