I Need My Blood

 

 

       I need my blood.

I need the mornings

sightless of dark duties

and encumbering failures

that rise like a high wave

teaming with unseen predators.

       I need a house without deep mud

at its doorstep and a fire menacingly

burning in the furthest backyard tree.

       I need to wake up like I used to,

energized, a life to look forward to, bow to,

and say yes, I can do that, I am full.

       I need God’s blowing kiss, a dream

that is more than a dead seed or grand illusion,

to step here and there solid in authenticity,

shed the dread and the pounding trip and fall.

       I need my blood

not horror-cold professionalism,

being polite while vital body fibres

ricochet against each other, bawling inside,

ripped and rolling like a fish

on a hook, heartlessly pulled

from my home and element, amazed

by how long I am still breathing,

here, without oxygen

or the salty waters of my belonging.

       I need a bridge

to walk across,

a landscape of freedom and prosperity,

away from this decaying island I sit upon

where massive reptiles wrap

their spiked bodies around, many

creeping on the shore.

       I need my blood,

to keep my blood,

flowing, be a voice at full strength,

no longer a sigh or a held-back moan.

       I need this now

to carry on.

 

My branches are all but broken.

My spirit is hardening, tight, tighter

than a heavy stone.

 

 

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Copyright © 2022 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Synchronized Chaos” May 2022

https://synchchaos.com/synchronized-chaos-second-may-issue/

https://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-allison-grayhurst-13/

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below: