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Dark Night

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Can’t

              stand the long drawn spike wedging

year upon year into my belly – can’t

              breathe under this burden of debt

and the cold didactic sentiments of the crowd – can’t

              live without some relief, some saving grace to upload

this struggle and haul it to the nearest dump – can’t

              understand the ruthless actions that forsake

the existence of God and paint a false justice on each toenail

to count and display at convenient random – can’t

              get my head around the hate that jettisons

into my arms because of the path

that has been laid before me – can’t

              help but try to hold on to the fine threads

of my sanity, to look at love and believe that is all

that matters – can’t

              keep this cast-iron anchor cuffed to my bones or take

another step in this downfall direction – can’t

              think in terms of linear hopes and

just-making-it calculations

 

Can’t

              do anything but say that I can’t

then send this confession

into the wind

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Copyright © 2004 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Our Poetry Archive, Contemporary Women’s Poetry Anthology “, July 2017

https://anthologyofcontemporarywomenspoetry.blogspot.ca/

https://anthologyofcontemporarywomenspoetry.blogspot.ca/2017/07/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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