Whitewashing

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Whitewashing

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What loss

buries the jewel in the dirt,

boards up the windows

and fastens a weight

to the sun?

What loss is this that

denies midnight its miracles,

that extracts motivation

and pretense,

lies behind billboards,

under the deck

and in the empty chair?

What loss I bear

as weightlessness – nothing to ground me

and

nothing core.

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Copyright © 2008 by Allison Grayhurst

3015

BookCoverImage Allison GrayhurstTrial and Witness back cover final

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Boston Poetry Magazine”, 2013

Boston poetry whitewashing 4Boston poetry whitewashing 2 Boston poetry whitewashing 3

http://bostonpoetry.wordpress.com/tag/allison-grayhurst/

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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“Allison Grayhurst intertwines a potent spirituality throughout her work so that each poem is not simply a statement or observation, but a revelation that demands the reader’s personal involvement. Grayhurst’s poetic genius is profound and evident. Her voice is uniquely authentic, undeniable in its dignified vulnerability as it is in its significance,” Kyp Harness, singer/songwriter, author.

“Allison Grayhurst’s poems are like cathedrals witnessing and articulating in unflinching graphic detail the gritty angst and grief of life, while taking it to rare clarity, calm and comfort. Grayhurst’s work is haunting, majestic and cleansing, often leaving one breathless in the wake of its intelligence, hope, faith and love amidst the muck of life. Many of Allison Grayhurst’s poems are simply masterpieces. Grayhurst’s poetry is a lighthouse of intelligent honour… indeed, intelligence rips through her work like white water,” Taylor Jane Green, Registered Spiritual Psychotherapist and author.

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Review of ‘The Many Lights of Eden’:
“’The Many Lights of Eden’ is a journey: a journey of the heart through youth, anguish, struggle, spiritual awakening, grief, death, love, loss, guilt, struggle, despair, hope, surrender, God, sensuality, imperfection, motherhood, aging, the vanquishing of the devil, indeed, many devils, the inevitable fall from perfection and the casting off of old wineskins for a new one. Perhaps speaking of this book as a chronicle of spiritual maturing would be more accurate, the realization that there is spirituality within imperfection and that handmade temples cannot hope to compete with the spiritual temples within each of us. ‘The Many Lights of Eden’ is a diamond. It is a beautiful collection of insights. Allison Grayhurst’s thoughts and writings are a deep well. Drink from it, for the water is clear and crisp. This collection is a MUST-READ,” Eric M. Vogt, author of Letters to Lara and Paths and Pools to Ponder

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It Happened

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It Happened

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It happened when

the air grew thick

as toffee candy

and love slipped into the cupboard

behind a rack full of old clothes.

That is when the lights broke and a new view

came headlong in – one that feels like

holding hands out, spread and still

under placid waters or like

a photo charged with self-contained life.

That is when I stopped speaking about

the same large dream. That was the day I walked up

the stairs and accepted the marks across the wall, dents

in the doors and my aging fingernails.

It happened then like a quote upon my door, read and

re-read at each failing moment.

It happened and has not stopped –

less words now

less of everything and less of the burden

of its heavy worth.

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Copyright © 2004 by Allison Grayhurst

3013

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “BEATNIK”

BeatknikBeatknik 2Beatknik it happened

http://whollycommunion.blogspot.ca/2011/10/allison-grayhurst-and-douglas-polk.html

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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“Allison Grayhurst intertwines a potent spirituality throughout her work so that each poem is not simply a statement or observation, but a revelation that demands the reader’s personal involvement. Grayhurst’s poetic genius is profound and evident. Her voice is uniquely authentic, undeniable in its dignified vulnerability as it is in its significance,” Kyp Harness, singer/songwriter, author.

“Allison Grayhurst’s poems are like cathedrals witnessing and articulating in unflinching graphic detail the gritty angst and grief of life, while taking it to rare clarity, calm and comfort. Grayhurst’s work is haunting, majestic and cleansing, often leaving one breathless in the wake of its intelligence, hope, faith and love amidst the muck of life. Many of Allison Grayhurst’s poems are simply masterpieces. Grayhurst’s poetry is a lighthouse of intelligent honour… indeed, intelligence rips through her work like white water,” Taylor Jane Green, Registered Spiritual Psychotherapist and author.

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Lesson Learned

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Lesson Learned

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My voice through glass

all summer long, mixing

words in my belly, saying only

grunts and other sounds that hang in the air

like the greyness before a storm.

I should count myself lucky and be a circle,

complete onto myself, quietly curving,

constantly joining, never sharp, never full of angular

weight or anger that can barely stand.

I should just learn to not be real, maybe

see a psychiatrist for all my pent-up disappointments,

for the way I want to shake the unshakable sea.

It is not worth these mornings of isolation, not worth

the split of an otherwise musical love. It is not

good to crave justice from a jackal or blame the jackal

when justice is not served. It is not right to hurt in my bones,

drag this knapsack full of iron, and spit my blood

all over the pavement.

It will be a challenge to learn detachment

where there should have been

connection and accountability.

I will not be connected, but be sweet, swallow

the stone in my throat and close the shop

with a smile.

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Copyright © 2010 by Allison Grayhurst

3017

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Both Sides Now”

both sides now

http://bothsidesnow.freeservers.com/backissues.htm

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

.

“Allison Grayhurst intertwines a potent spirituality throughout her work so that each poem is not simply a statement or observation, but a revelation that demands the reader’s personal involvement. Grayhurst’s poetic genius is profound and evident. Her voice is uniquely authentic, undeniable in its dignified vulnerability as it is in its significance,” Kyp Harness, singer/songwriter, author.

“Allison Grayhurst’s poems are like cathedrals witnessing and articulating in unflinching graphic detail the gritty angst and grief of life, while taking it to rare clarity, calm and comfort. Grayhurst’s work is haunting, majestic and cleansing, often leaving one breathless in the wake of its intelligence, hope, faith and love amidst the muck of life. Many of Allison Grayhurst’s poems are simply masterpieces. Grayhurst’s poetry is a lighthouse of intelligent honour… indeed, intelligence rips through her work like white water,” Taylor Jane Green, Registered Spiritual Psychotherapist and author.

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