Beyond Instinct or Dreams

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Renewal is in the night,

comes like lovemaking

to heal the bruise of harsh words

and lonely needs.

 

Because a cigarette is sometimes

all that is wanted, or good news in the mail,

and because the ways of the heart are erratic,

inconsistently falling as flakes of snow,

that is why we sometimes sleep with death

as we do with God, not holding but letting It hold

us in a warm invincible sack, offering promise, a journey

to somewhere unfathomable.

 

That is why some fear is good, is intimate as love.

And the sky is breathing and the oceans, the seas,

the rivers are breathing. And the beetle and the rooftops too.

 

Trees sway with the clouds.

The butterfly and guppy are great as mountains.

All chimes of tenderness or tragedy,

seeking its necessary role.

We bear the weight.

We take balloons to birthday parties.

And happy is the motion. And graced

are each of our failings.

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Copyright © 1998 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “CRASH a litzine”, Issue #7

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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