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I moved like a moon
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in predictable orbit, smashed
by meteors, space pebbles
meeting my surface with deep impact, when
there were dark oceans under my skin, unseen
single forms, coupled forms, and beds of
colourless weeds, but I steadied myself
on the cold shell of repetitive expectations –
dead valleys here, dead heights there.
Going through the hard crust, under, into
a thicker atmosphere, currents of heaviness,
breaking barriers better off broken.
Haunted by shapes that come close and rarely touch,
in this weighted environment, by-passing predator
tentacles and jaws by instinct alone, no journey-map,
stars or horizon to act as goal or inspiration, but
rolling
through cross-waves with creatures captured
by a dark density like
myself, shaded, loose at the extremities, compact
at the core, thriving on plateaus of deep pressure,
salty flavours all around – so far gone from walking
that legs leave, replaced by fins, and language is not
sound, but a full-body resonance – no delay
between appetite and attainment.
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..
Copyright © 2014 by Allison Grayhurst
amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst
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First published in “The Bitchin’ Kitsch”
http://www.talbot-heindl.com/aug2014
http://www.talbot-heindl.com/moon
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Click to access 20151023No_Raft_No_Ocean_by_Allison_Grayhurst.pdf
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http://scars.tv/cgi-bin/framesmain.pl?writers
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.You can listen to the poem by clicking below:
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“Her (Allison Grayhurst’s) poetry appears visceral, not for the faint of heart, and moves forward with a dynamism, with a frenetic pulse. If you seek the truth, the physical blood and bones, then, by all means, open the world into which we were all born,” Anne Burke, poet, regional representative for Alberta on the League of Canadian Poets’ Council, and chair of the Feminist Caucus.
“What a treasure Allison Grayhurst is. Her gift? To unfold for us life at this intensity of feeling and revelation. Who knew truth and beauty could be so intertwined and so passionate?,” Taylor Jane Green BA, RIHR, CH, Registered Holistic Talk Therapist, and author of Swan Wheeler: A North American Mythology, Swan – A Planetary Mythology, and The Rise of Eros, 2014.
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Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat™.
…reminds me of the G.M. Hopkins poem – ‘The mind has mountains, cliffs of fall…’
This is a brilliantly written poem. Wow, the imagery, the feeling…
I remember experiencing exactly this, and there was a comfort in the awareness and acceptance of it:
“but I steadied myself
on the cold shell of repetitive expectations –
dead valleys here, dead heights there”
I lived years like this, incredible to pull this off as if by grace, as if by trial, as if by test:
“by-passing predator
tentacles and jaws by instinct alone, no journey-map,
stars or horizon to act as goal or inspiration
This is the best feeling description and insight into the might and depth and intrigue of underwater sea creatures I have ever encountered:
“rolling
through cross-waves with creatures captured
by a dark density like
myself, shaded, loose at the extremities, compact
at the core, thriving on plateaus of deep pressure,
salty flavours all around – so far gone from walking
that legs leave, replaced by fins, and language is not
sound, but a full-body resonance”