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Faltering

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Like a swarm of vicious wasps

the daylight discovers my pulse.

All the children stare with

cold, whiteless eyes.

The wind carries the groans of the dying

and the rooftops are sinking into

their frames.

The taps drip and the clocks tick.

A crow has landed on my driveway.

He calls in time with the wind.

He wears my name under his wing.

The windows are undulating like a river’s foaming skin.

I run home from the corner store

and have the wrong key to open the door.

I stand inside the porch and count the fairytales

of my people. There is nothing new to cry for,

but how is it decided who tries, who mends and who coasts?

And how my mind bends blue on the pitstops

along the road to illumination.

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Ygdrasil – A Journal of the Poetic Arts, VOL XXIII, Issue 4”

http://users.synapse.net/kgerken/Y-1504.pdf

http://users.synapse.net/kgerken/

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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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