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Forging a map

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to lead me from

this private drain where faith steals

in like a toothache. I will uncover

a different dimension of faith, faith

that has no invested outcome, has no

burdensome wounds. Years of the pigment

plucked from my beating chest, years of desperate

expectations, liquefying my organs, walking

as though I mattered, feeling brave against the world.

This faith will have no words,

projecting into tomorrow, will have no ‘me’

in the mix, but be just faith hovering

like a ring around my Saturn –

it will grace me while I am sleeping

so I will have strength in the day.

It will not carry the weight of guilt,

regret or self-defeating sin.

It will be a flood, eliminating the insides

of my house with one clean sweep. It will rise

in me, and I will give myself wholly over to it –

not even a fragment left of

my former needs.

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Copyright © 2010 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Malevolent Pegasus Literary Zine” November 2015

http://malevolentpegasus.blogspot.ca/2015/11/forging-map-poem-by-allison-grayhurst.html

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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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