Bare Essentials

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Allison Grayhurst

Bare Essentials

I waited on you,

now I am free to let the waiting go.

I give you back the burden of setting things right.

I give you back the long walks carrying

a weight I could not control, the tightness

circumventing my throat and my days never perfect

because of senseless lack – I give it back to you,

the fallen star, the third-degree burns,

the collection of my fears and disappointments.

I cannot hold it any longer. My own voice betrays

me – desperation has mutated me, but not

anymore. You can hold all these inadequacies

and the stark gravity

of survival – you can create love out of nothing,

bring destiny to our doorstep, take all this debt

and impossibility and raise it over the threshold.

You can take

this crippled breath and paint it fresh and easeful.

I give it back to you. I expect nothing but

freedom, to walk again like a very young child –

absolute, connected.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published in “Synchronized Chaos April 2017: Sacred Mysteries”, April 2017

“Her (Allison Grayhurst’s) pieces (poetry) have a tribal and timeless feeling, reminiscent of the Biblical commentary in Ecclesiastes,” Cristina Deptula, editor of Synchronized Chaos.

http://synchchaos.com/?p=12964

http://synchchaos.com/?p=12954

http://synchchaos.com/synchronized-chaos-april-2017/

http://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-allison-grayhurst/

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

“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.

Turned

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Allison Grayhurst

Turned

I turn my head

stiff with anxiety’s brutality and shame.

I fill my lungs with the cold fumes

of survival and find myself

lost from the legacy of miracles on my garments,

lost from the jewels under every stone in my yard.

I turn my head

and I see again the gifts that pull me through,

every time, each time at the last minute.

So why do I suffer in doubt, blistering

with fears that never hold water? The world

teaches me it is calculating and void of mercy.

God teaches me of only mercy, of treasures

astounding and undeserved but given with the love

of a thousand parents to their only child, teaches

me not to listen to the babbling crowd so full

of good advice and my future’s concerns.

God speaks of grace, with grace manifesting at each

brick corner I face. At every impossible deliverance,

I am delivered.

I release my held-back breath.

I accept your goodness like a song that has finally

developed to fruition, sunning the darkness once so coveted

in my head –

turned.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published in “Spirit Fire Review” January 2017

http://www.spiritfirereview.com/single-post/2017/01/15/Spirit-Fire-Review-January-2017-Issue-6

http://www.spiritfirereview.com/current-issue

http://www.spiritfirereview.com/single-post/2017/01/09/Two-Poems-by-Allison-Grayhurst

http://www.spiritfirereview.com/editors-authors

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

Purest Obedience

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Allison Grayhurst

Purest Obedience

Like a fierce wind

driven by the fires of Jerusalem, he

overtakes me from my eyelashes to my

fingernails, mends the hole in my sock,

the scar on my lip.

Like a new truth spoken, like the

veils of God dropping, he calls me

to his table, cleans my confusion,

spins me on my axle and holds his hand to mine.

He is the one thing guiding,

the one that takes all else into itself,

saturating me with good fear

and with the safety that children know

beside a parent’s accepted love.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.Published in “Spirit Fire Review, Issue 6” January 2017

http://www.spiritfirereview.com/single-post/2017/01/15/Spirit-Fire-Review-January-2017-Issue-6

http://www.spiritfirereview.com/current-issue

http://www.spiritfirereview.com/single-post/2017/01/09/Two-Poems-by-Allison-Grayhurst

http://www.spiritfirereview.com/editors-authors

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

Review of The Longing To Be:

“The contents of Allison Grayhurst’s book The Longing To Be are both personal and universal and are described in such thematic and golden terms that one can see that a lot of thought has gone into each line. The poems are written mostly in free verse throughout, with both rhythm and soul weaved into them. For some poems, the layout seems experimental, and there is definitely a playfulness in the way that the words and verses fall onto the page. Others do conform to a “norm”, whatever that is. All are dramatic and thoughtful. These are layered poems with new horizons presented to the reader in every re-read. The effect is to keep things fresh with poems that constantly surprise in spite, and because of, the number of times being read. I thoroughly recommend The Longing To Be as a poetry book to study carefully and cherish far into the future,” poet Brian Shirra.