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New Commitment

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In the wilderness of my dreams,

never shining a colour I could own

as a bluejay, its feathers.

How many worlds must I enter

to peel away to the light?

How to gather sand and build a rock?

And at night,

even love’s generosity

is not so glorious,

even happiness cancels out

a great intensity.

I think strength means

knowing how to suffer

properly.

Strip me of this darkness and

let me lean against a beating chest.

I am not to be scattered like a weakling seed

or tossed from shoulder to shoulder

like a child without a home.

In the solid middle I will dive,

driving away my rage and the stuff

of distraction that devours

the better workings of my heart.

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Copyright © 2000 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “the chicago record magazine” August 2015

 

http://magazine-record.blogspot.ca/

http://magazine-record.blogspot.ca/2015/08/a-day-for-my-own-darning-of-socks-in.html

http://magazine-record.blogspot.ca/2015/08/change-let-it-come-like-wave-with-salty.html

http://magazine-record.blogspot.ca/2015_08_01_archive.html

 

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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