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Finding Direction

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It is the happiness

of the sages I seek when

climbing out windows onto rooftops

or when walking my child to the park.

It is not the dry wilted lip I fear, but the

drifting from day to day, bloated on

tireless resentments and a rising despair.

The path is in my hands, is wide awake to my voice.

At night, I remember my father and rhythms that happened

so long ago. Summer is almost here

and the sand blows across the grass.

Today I am trying for a different approach to this nadir,

I am kicking up the floorplans and heading for new bait.

I see the red cardinal from my sliding glass door.

Faith is hard and sunrise never seems to arrive.

But it is a spell to be wooed into stagnation,

and it is better to face my inner gloom

than to sleep and keep the coin untossed.

 

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Novelmasters” May 2017

http://www.novelmasters.org/allison-grayhurst-end-of-an-era/

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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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