.
The Voice That Calls To Me
.
.
The voice that calls me to the dazzling edge
is the voice I heard when still in hunger,
deep in donut shops, in cigarettes and unbleached sorrow.
The voice that calls me, comes again,
bursting in my belly, digging a hole
through all my prayers, comes
like an elephant, intelligent and crushing
my marrow with its grey mass.
The voice that calls me, I know
like I know certain streets of this city,
dressed in melancholic remembrances,
shedding their newness to rekindle those
unhappy, yet coveted years.
The voice that calls me beats on my limbs
like hail. As if holding my head between clammy palms,
it holds my thoughts in old habit, in damp, penetrating gloom.
I begin this time
hearing its vinegar scream inside.
It drips like cold gravy down my spine
down, between shoulder-blades, down
covering the small of my back.
The voice that calls me, I hear rise
from the gutter of my past.
I let it come and go. For though
here and hooked to my mind, it is only
the passing of a cloud, only
a long-told story, a coming-back before
moving on.
.
.
Copyright © 2000 by Allison Grayhurst
amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst
.
First published in “Poems About Life”
http://www.mypoemsaboutlife.com/2013/08/deep-poems-about-time-and-voice.html
.
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.
.
.