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A thank-you note

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         I liked you for your love

of the little creatures, for the wild,

unsavoury animals that others

have no use for – like rats, tortoises

and cats that are blind. I liked you

for the wound you kept a mystery –

something about your father and a

despair that set you apart from the rest

of the living. I liked our full-blown connection

that seemed to conquer time and mistrust and

prepare for us a feast of sisterly ways.

For a year we held close.

              In that car ride through

the farmlands, once I feared you might stop and stab me

under that canopy of stars and darkness. Because

there was something terrifying about you –

something hurt and distorted

by a tremendous overload.

              One day you stopped calling,

stopped speaking about poetry,

your dog and your love-affairs

gone wrong. Months later you wrote me a letter,

explaining the days that kept you from me –

days of being unable to eat, get dressed

or even call on the phone. For me, it was

too late. Too much so soon and then, nothing.

Like a betrayal I could never get used to,

like a friendship I would always be wondering

when it would vanish.

 

Only later did I learn your last name.

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Copyright © 2006 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Dali’s Lovechild Issue 7” April 2015

    

 http://www.dalislovechild.com/article/a-thank-you-note/

http://www.dalislovechild.com/

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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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