With These Things

With These Things

With these things absent of flame, lovers

deny the vibrant depths of twilight,

the beauty of a bucking mare in the wet grasses

of autumn and a gallery of possibilities

to shower their skins.

With these things of surface-hold, these things

cured by sleep and time that steals the shock

but never fully heals, lovers

lose the meaning of their merging, the touch

of each other’s tongue that touches

like a smooth horn and stings

with unimaginable tenderness.

With these things gone like things go that

no sorrow can express, lovers

grow weak from humiliation, grow

devoted to abstraction, armoured

by resentment, callous

as a jewel.

But with these things of horror of hatching

a new self inside a familiar world, lovers

learn to fly despite the lovers’ legends and

the arsenic.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published in Psychopoetica, 1996

Published in “Quantum Poetry Magazine”, 2011

http://quantumpoetry.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/allison-grayhurst/

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.

Reviews of ‘Journey of the Awakening’:

“Journey of the Awakening is the first book of poetry that I have read of Allison Grayhurst. While reading it began to sound familiar, the comment to myself was “She is as good as Sylvia Plath”. When I finished the book I read comments from others who referred to her as “In the style of Sylvia Plath”; Ms Plath, one of my favorite poets had no match until Ms Grayhurst’s work. Congratulations to her on her achievements, I am already a ‘fan’, the love of her work will continue to grow,” Ann Johnson-Murphree, poet and author.

“Grayhurst is a great Canadian poet. All of Allison Grayhurst’s poetry is original, sometimes startling, and more often than not, powerful. Anyone who loves modern poetry that does not follow the common path will find Grayhurst complex, insightful, and as good a poet as anyone writing in the world today. This, and other Grayhurst poetry volumes are highly, highly recommended,” Tom Davis, poet, novelist and educator.

Allison Grayhurst

Poet

With These Things

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