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It is told again,
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the tale of a woman
buried by family and mountains
of laundry. Hollowed-out with
nothing to speak of, not the love she
feels when she sees her children smile
nor the fire in her lungs that longs to explode
onto the canvas of what kept her alive from
the beginning.
It is told again, a week of work and half-sleeping
nights – when joy is in the palm but is hard to
experience, for the poetic nutrients that keep her
mind’s eye vivid is robbed of their effect. It is not
time nor eternity but the simple task of claiming what
is hers, of demanding the chance to be on all sides fulfilled.
It is told again,
but this time she will break the cards differently –
her chores will be abandoned but her children will see
their mother as one who refuses to hurt
beyond repair, who holds herself an equal
and never releases
the grip.
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Copyright © 2004 by Allison Grayhurst
amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst
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First published in “In Between Hangovers”, January 2017
https://inbetweenhangovers.wordpress.com/2017/01/07/it-is-told-again-by-allison-grayhurst/
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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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