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The God I Follow

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          The God I follow

is the breastbone of all beginnings,

the gallop in the maimed animal,

the grief that murders any half-measures,

and lifts all eyes to meet the sun.

          The God I love is love

unexplained, strange as the depths

of the oceans and strong as gravity.

This love swims through chimneys and air vents,

cloaks the guilty and the saved, is reborn

in every merciful eye.

          The God I follow is forgiveness,

blind to all but the true measures of the heart,

is the arrow that hits the hungry

and bends to the burn of divine surrender.

          The God I love is personal as the body,

is a lifetime pasture of rich anguish

and gentle revelations.

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

 

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Leaves of Ink” December 2015

http://www.leaves-of-ink.com/2015/12/the-god-i-follow.html

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Published in “the penwood review, volume 19, number 2” Fall 2015

http://www.penwoodreview.com/shop/penwood-review-2015/

http://www.penwoodreview.com/

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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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