Loss
There, the cement
is broken by a heavy fall,
ants make their way in,
dig tunnels, weeds sprout up
and birds land.
Beginnings are ugly, born out of death,
harsh endings and spoonfuls of stone and flame.
Even the perfect, soft, love-filled endings
are brutal in their permanence.
I drown in the shallow stream.
I make music in the desert.
I touch the worms of my thoughts,
wagging and whipping up the smooth level below.
Do you know how much I miss you –
the light in your dark special eyes,
the light that seeped into and saturated
wherever you went, and the natural love
pooling around your small body,
extending into the corners of this house,
upstairs, down basement stairs,
all the empty places?
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Copyright © 2022 by Allison Grayhurst
amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst
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Published in “Creation and Criticism, Vol. 07” October 2022
http://www.creationandcriticism.com/loss-and-other-poems-by-allison-grayhurst.html
http://www.creationandcriticism.com/_blog/search/tag/Poet
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Published in “Poets’ Espresso Review, Volume 14 Issue 4” November 2022
PE Vol. 14 Issue 4 Summer, Fall 2022 October 2022
https://www.poetsespressoreview.com/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o2E_8r2fEzwYb5F62xIXI8fgvRcEjVhe/view
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First published in “Medusa’s Kitchen” July 2022
http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2022/07/that-spider-dancing.html
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You can listen to the poem by clicking below: