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Wallpaper Stars

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At the top of the stairs

sits a box covered

with wallpaper stars. In this box

there is a small coin that

holds the memory of another time.

A child has pushed the box down the stairs

and the light has caught the coin on the way down,

glimmering like the leaves on branches after a rainstorm.

I pick up that coin and I take it away.

I am better than the coin that fell,

but less than the child sitting and

staring and waiting for the coin, sure

of the gift like Job was sure of God’s love. I once was

the same, now I am different, tainted as grownups

always are.

The box is empty but I will fill it again.

The box is beautiful like the child who

sits and smiles – coin between fingertips, knowing

its proper place – inside the box

covered

with wallpaper stars.

 

 

Copyright © 2006 by Allison Grayhurst

 

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First published in “Ginosko Literary Journal, Issue 16” May 2015

http://ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/images/ginosko16.pdf

http://ginoskoliteraryjournal.com/downloads.htm

 

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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