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Shock

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It comes like this

into the heart, planting

its spikes in the flow.

It wraps its tawny arms

around the chest and presses

with the strength of death.

The fear it gives is easy to bend to

like being caught on a raft nearing

a waterfall. It is as potent

as grief and hides its pulse like a sparrow hides

behind the branches of an evergreen.

In a prayer, in a scream, it can snap

a strong faith and separate flesh from bone.

It can call your name at any time

and change your life

like no pain has done before.

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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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