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Kneel Beside Love

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If ever you kneel beside love

strip yourself in the midnight cold

and your heart expands

moist

like ice on heat

feels the flood

the zealous delight

uprooting misery

in moments too marvelous for words . . .

 

Gardeners, lovers

you decide

the wish

beside each other

faces are made real

inadequacies vanish

leaving no trace of murder

or time

 

What you feel

walking

in this pulsing spring

daring such joy

no illness could alter

What you feel

briefly

as you join skin and souls . . .

 

creating refuge

even death

cannot violate.

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Copyright © 1989 by Allison Grayhurst

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Joshua’s Shoulder was published  in 1989 by The Plowman, written by Allison Grayhurst under the pseudonym of Jocelyn Kain.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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Published in “Sacred Chickens” August 2017

http://www.sacredchickens.com/sacred-chickens-blog/allison-grayhurst-poetry

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First published in “The Plowman: A Journal of International Poetry” 1989

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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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“Rich images and complex, shifting metaphors drive Allison Grayhurst’s poems. She focuses on sexual love and interior landscapes, widening to include the heart, eternity and all.” – Next Exit

“Grayhurst’s rapturous outpouring of imagery makes her poems easily enjoyable … Like a sear the poet seeks to fathom sensual and spiritual experience through the images of a dream.” Canadian Literature

“Allison Grayhurst is a poet whose work is characterized by startling imagery and uncompromising emotion, whose pieces have appeared in prestigious magazines. Lights, darks, colors, and passions intertwine throughout the pages of her work,” – Louise E. Allin, Literature and Language

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