Category Archives: Sculptures

Living With Myself

Posted on by Allison Grayhurst

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Living With Myself

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How many years before I arrive (guided as I am)

to the cliff, before I accept the fear, this view

as only a snake protecting my yard or as a way to keep me

ringing the bell? When was the last time a stranger

altered my octave, drove me, drum, drum

at the heels of some extreme belief?

This flesh is like oil paint that only sanding can clean.

My path is wanting.

I am with water, but no wave. I feel the water,

heavy as an avalanche,

soiled by so many fruitless beginnings.

But death will come, and the dust

that has already caked over my exuberance

will not be queen.

I will ride again unchanged, but this time

at sunrise, upon my beautiful horse, without

bridal and chain. I will regain mastery, pound at

the hot grass, at this constant edge –

relinquishing all.

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Copyright © 2008 by Allison Grayhurst

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First published in “Spillwords Press”, June 2017

Living With Myself

http://spillwords.com/author/allisongrayhurst/

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Sculpture “Girl” – photo and sculpture © Allison Grayhurst 2012

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Published in “White Liquor” August 2017


https://steemit.com/poem/@whiteliquor/five-poems
http://whiteliquor.tk/

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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.

Reviews of ‘The Many Lights of Eden’:

“’The Many Lights of Eden’ is a journey: a journey of the heart through youth, anguish, struggle, spiritual awakening, grief, death, love, loss, guilt, struggle, despair, hope, surrender, God, sensuality, imperfection, motherhood, aging, the vanquishing of the devil, indeed, many devils, the inevitable fall from perfection and the casting off of old wineskins for a new one. Perhaps speaking of this book as a chronicle of spiritual maturing would be more accurate, the realization that there is spirituality within imperfection and that handmade temples cannot hope to compete with the spiritual temples within each of us. ‘The Many Lights of Eden’ is a diamond. It is a beautiful collection of insights. Allison Grayhurst’s thoughts and writings are a deep well. Drink from it, for the water is clear and crisp. This collection is a MUST-READ,” Eric M. Vogt, author of Letters to Lara and Paths and Pools to Ponder. 

“I have been slow at responding to reviews for Allison Grayhurst due to summer’s busy days, however she brings life to each poem, heart to the images and everyone should have a collection of Grayhurst Poetry,” Ann Johnson-Murphree, poet.

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All Hands Down

Posted on by Allison Grayhurst

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All Hands Down

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Into the seams of non-existence

the cherished expectations of life descend

like a mother who loses her infant to the

turning of time, or a seed its husk

in May’s noon light.

There are heights to head towards,

compacted by the weight of reality’s call,

and a carpet to tread, unfamiliar with your footsteps.

In August, the summer will soon be over. It is

the shadow that falls from electrical wires

that makes you sink

into a moment without hope. It is watching sparrows

on eavestroughs that removes you from your daily struggles

and puts the flower back in its perfect place.

Waking to dread like a wave that pulls you under

every morning, motioned by the same ten-year cause,

and all the time you know the grave awaits you

like every other,

and it is just a matter now of growing old.

The street is still, even in late morning.

The buttercups have not yet bloomed.

You hear the wounded at your doorstep.

You have stopped waiting, but even that is not enough

to see you through.

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

3011

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Spillwords Press” May 2017

All Hands Down

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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“Absolution” – sculpture and photo by Allison Grayhurst

Copyright © 2012 by Allison Grayhurst

 

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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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Jesus in my basement

Posted on by Allison Grayhurst

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Jesus in my basement

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You are serious as the elements,

master of miracles that overcomes those elements.

You are golden and landing always

in the depth of true light.

I think at times I can hear your voice, immediate,

ambushing my breath and my lazy self-pity.

You call on me to change my skin, walk

this world with belief and wonder. You guide me

in your discipline, offer me promise, eternity,

hills and hills of lush mercy.

You want my words to be exhumed – to speak exact,

not be encased in avoidance, not caked in layers

of mind-twisting complexity.

Just to be here, in front of you – simple, unimportant,

broken by the world, remade by you.

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Copyright © 2008 by Allison Grayhurst

3015

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Currents - pastlife poems cover 4

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Section 8 Magazine”, January 2017

section-8-jan-1 section-8-jan-3  section-8-jesus-in-my-basementsection-8-jan-bio

https://www.section8magazine.com/the-last-layer/

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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Sculpture “Above The Waters” sculpture and photographs by © Allison Grayhurst 2102

 

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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.

Reviews of ‘The Many Lights of Eden’:

“’The Many Lights of Eden’ is a journey: a journey of the heart through youth, anguish, struggle, spiritual awakening, grief, death, love, loss, guilt, struggle, despair, hope, surrender, God, sensuality, imperfection, motherhood, aging, the vanquishing of the devil, indeed, many devils, the inevitable fall from perfection and the casting off of old wineskins for a new one. Perhaps speaking of this book as a chronicle of spiritual maturing would be more accurate, the realization that there is spirituality within imperfection and that handmade temples cannot hope to compete with the spiritual temples within each of us. ‘The Many Lights of Eden’ is a diamond. It is a beautiful collection of insights. Allison Grayhurst’s thoughts and writings are a deep well. Drink from it, for the water is clear and crisp. This collection is a MUST-READ,” Eric M. Vogt, author of Letters to Lara and Paths and Pools to Ponder. 

 “I have been slow at responding to reviews for Allison Grayhurst due to summer’s busy days, however she brings life to each poem, heart to the images and everyone should have a collection of Grayhurst Poetry,” Ann Johnson-Murphree, poet.

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