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Until The Ladder Shows

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You answer me,

not with an antidote

but by putting a pillow under

the dragging day.

You answer me,

not speaking of summer

but of sustaining.

Any onlooker could see

my shrinking scenery

but never know

the way you showed me a pebble-stone path

over the high hills and muddy terrain.

You answer me with minimal deliverance,

delicately stepping through this grief-inducing wilderness,

tree-like, moon-like, zen-like

you slide under my veil to add a little colour.

You answer with candle light, not gold,

but answering. And I accept with grateful sighs

this balcony to stand on

while fire consumes each corner of my fallen rooms.

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Copyright © 2004 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Boston Poetry Magazine”

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

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/until-the-ladder-shows.m4a?_=1

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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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