If I was responsible

If I was responsible

I would sell my discipline for higher wages.

As it is, I blame the supermarket shoppers

and the crowds of Buddha-dreamers crossing the Himalayans

pursuing visions of acceptance.

Survival is a closed evolution – stealth and teeth,

a method where love has no allegiance.

I don’t want anymore, not spacecraft theories, not mornings

of self-defeating mythology or philosophical discussions.

I don’t want degrees of ecstasy or appointments.

I refuse to grow into a ghost or budge my integrity for

a bowl of temporary fulfilment. And here, I am wrong,

don’t belong with the wine-seller stockers and

the coral reef hiders.

I have a garden where I walk through the tall weeds,

eliminate insects with methodical steps like squashing

the patterns of horoscopes, a place where I crush

newspaper absurdities, sidestep the reactionary circle-act,

redefining my personal salvation.

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First published in “Sentinel Literary Quarterly” February 2016

Sentinel Quarterly 1 Sentinel Quarterly If I was Sentinel Quarterly bio

http://sentinelquarterly.com/2016/02/three-poems-by-allison-grayhurst/

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“Allison’s poetic prose is insightful, enwrapping, illuminating and brutally truthful. It probes the nature of the human spirit, relationships, spirituality and God. It is sung as the clearest song is sung within a cathedral by choir. It is whispered as faintly as a heartbroken goodbye. It is alive with the life of a thousand birds in flight within the first glint of morning sun. It is as solemn as the sad-sung ballad of a noble death. Read at your peril. You will never look at this world in quite the same way again. Your eye will instinctively search the sky for eagles and scan the dark earth for the slightest movement of smallest ant, your heart will reach for tall mountains, bathe in the most intimate of passions and in the grain and grit of our earth. Such is Allison Grayhurst. Such is her poetry,” Eric M. Vogt, poet and author.

“Grayhurst is a great Canadian poet. All of Allison Grayhurst’s poetry is original, sometimes startling, and more often than not, powerful. Anyone who loves modern poetry that does not follow the common path will find Grayhurst complex, insightful, and as good a poet as anyone writing in the world today. Grayhurst’s poetry volumes are highly, highly recommended,” Tom Davis, poet, novelist and educator.