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For Waldo

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Am I to speak of the hangnail pain,

though no season was lost and there

are no backstairs to climb?

Am I to miss you in the garden

we never had, in the memories

of never being close but always

being near?

And the time you ran frightened of me

through the alleyways, as though we never loved,

never knew the trust of wounds

we helped each other heal. Never you

wanting more than to maintain

your dignity, your freedom, your

contemplative stare. Never you

giving more than the most

of your compassion, the gentle restraint

of your excited spirit.

And to die like that,

killing the final cord. Stinging slowly, so slow

it’s hard to cry, to not wish one last swim with you

under the fullmoon just staring

forever into that small-town sky.

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Copyright © 1997 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

 

First published in “Novelmasters” July 2015

http://www.novelmasters.org/allison-grayhurst-when-worlds-collapse-and-other-poems/

http://www.novelmasters.org/category/poetry/

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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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