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If This My Person . . .

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I do not know any more

how to speak of the burning

   wires.

How to dress

the cramp with

   dream.

I am simple now, like a shell,

a swallow, a

   first-love.

I do not walk with an eagle’s foot,

do not stir myself naked from

   sleep

into a gallery of torments imagined.

That is gone like

   desire

that clings and begs

for miracles, like a boat that

   breaks

the waters then is broken

by a great

   Tide . . .

.

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Copyright © 1997 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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Published in “madswirl”, September 2011

http://madswirlspoetryforum.blogspot.ca/2011_09_04_archive.html

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Published in “Reflections, Issue 23″, 1995 

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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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