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This Place, running

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Altered by the taking flood,

taking my wound to its midnight pressure,

excavating the dormant lie I’ve traced across

the pattern of my life.

This sinking red secret

that pins me to the world will go

if I trust there to be a doorway where a wall is standing.

If I release the vault of hopes mangled

then forsaken and bind myself to heaven,

then this poison will drain from my veins, the

insurmountable rock will be my waterslide

and the crack on my shore will bring forth a

different land of glorious senses.

 

I dig. The lid has shifted. The dry pond is moistening,

soon to be a place of movement.

The world is what it is, never to know

the waking heart of mercy.

But we are not thieves, nor are we to be the

minstrels of poverty, torn apart in the oceans,

clouded by the shows of unGodly charity

and well rehearsed praise.

We are to be the house, sacred to enter –

the winternight’s window left ajar.

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Copyright © 2004 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Wilderness House Literary Review”

http://www.whlreview.com/no-8.2/poetry/AllisonGrayhurst.pdf

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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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