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In My Bones

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Death makes a brother and sister

of us all, shedding the crusty scales

of protection and vanity, it lifts

each heart bare toward the scorching

sun. And I feel so different now,

as though my wardrobe has been replaced

with someone else’s colours,

as though I have joined hands with the earth

in all her potent grief and glory.

I feel so well contained, though raw

as newborn babe. I feel this knowing

has made me whole, though it has removed

the ground I once stood on.

And here I see the space within will never go,

and the tears will be forever near. I see

the miracle of death, like the forming

of a caterpillar’s tight cocoon.

I see May flowers begin to bloom,

and know now, that life is not

so long a thing.

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Copyright © 2000 by Allison Grayhurst

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First published in “Black Mirror Magazine” April 2015

http://blackmirrormagazine.com/2015/04/04/allison-grayhurst/

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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.