Entrance Door

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Allison Grayhurst

Entrance Door

You stand at the entrance, robbed and dazed,

alone with the rain.

Your school is poor, much like water on a grave,

it cannot restore the yellowing clover. But I believe in you,

in the parting of your eyelids and the outpouring

of your creativity.

I saw your eyes, written with the depth of the wind.

Your sorrow is not easy,

but the power of it within you

will play out into an unimagined liberty.

A longed-for communion

will possess you and bring you barefoot out of exile.

I don’t know why this disappointment must claim victory

or why joy and intimacy

were not open mouths, parting, to match your ageless purity.

I don’t understand the burning, the collapse, and why

the Earth is so hard. But I understand you,

and what a blossom of magic you are.

You are meant to know this sorrow before

you can be happy. You are meant to dance out your grief,

your rage, the incapability

of others. Balance yourself here. I will help you.

I will kiss your hand. This is not random. Disaster is yours.

But the animals know, and I know, you are close

(so very close)

to the last release before

resurrection

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First published in “MadSwirl” October 2015

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Entrance Door

http://madswirlspoetryforum.blogspot.ca/2015/10/the-best-of-mad-swirl-102415.html

Published in “The song is…” Novwmber 2015

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http://thesongis.blogspot.ca/2015/11/allison-grayhurst.html

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.

Reviews of ‘Pushing Through the Jelly Fire’:

“This, (Pushing Through the Jelly Fire) is my second favorite book of poetry by Allison Grayhurst. I have it in paperback. I read a lot of poetry across a lot of blogs but Grayhurst’s work stands above the crowd and is of tremendous quality. I highly recommend this and The River is Blind. Her quality of writing is of a high standard and never ceases to lift my spirits as I turn pages in paperback or kindle,” Bruce Ruston, poet, photographer, founding editor of The Poetry Jar.

“Another Grayhurst masterpiece, Allison’s work has inspired me to continue creating and reading poetry,” Ann Johnson-Murphree, poet.

Husband II

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Allison Grayhurst

Husband II

The one who found me

in the schoolyard by the old tree

fell to his knees with patches of burnt skin

along his pale arms. He tried a pact of suicide

with the sun, many times, but his inner ache

gave out, replaced with a potent drive for revenge.

Then through a threadbare journey where

he never allowed his passion to be quenched,

he turned from revenge

to a window where he saw heaven, sliced and untouchable

like a painting at an art show. He saw a way to find me, past

the hospital ward, past the mushroom cloud of his existence.

When he found me, I too was shut

in a sea of quicksand, waiting

on the final miracle. We smelt each other’s hair

in the openness of a winter sky.

I told him my faith was at his side. I left him

lingering by the tree – his old darkness staked and

a new one, sure to be born.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

Published in “Asian Signature, Volume 3, Issue 3” January 2016

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http://asiansignature.com/

http://asiansignature.com/2016/01/

http://asiansignature.com/world-poetry/allison-grayhurst/

Published in “TwitchFit Lit Writing Zine” October 2015

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http://twitchfitlitpage.blogspot.ca/2015/10/husband-poem-by-allison-grayhurst.html

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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.

No Stone No God

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Allison Grayhurst

No Stone No God

I sang a stone, a star

retracting, turning charcoal, still

blood-fire aglow. I pulsed in the aftershock

of entropy, but never believed black

holes to be anything less than the pupils of God,

absorbing light, surrounded by swirling iris-galaxies.

Sucked through the mighty hurricane,

living inside the deepest of organ-flesh,

directing a liberating unfolding – a grand outside

poly-shield, infant-squalling. It is celestial traffic and

it is alive, caught in the mower, twitching, having

the edges shaved off to form a more easily

movable body-round – end-of-summer-stone.

I sang a stone, a star

tuned in to what flows out, seems like cement,

but isn’t, is a babbling, bubbling child – wonder

here – wonder at the root.

Limits are the end of all exploring,

the disconnecting, overtaking void, more void,

no food, no stone, no song.

Fire and more cover - Copy

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Published in “The Peregrine Muse” December 2015, also as the feature poem June 2, 2016

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https://sites.google.com/site/theperegrinemuseii/

https://sites.google.com/site/theperegrinemuseii/home/grayhurst

First published in “Profiles in Poetry Literary Zine” October 2015

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Short interview:

What drives you to write?

I write poetry because I have to. It sustains me; it keeps me sane, connects me to God and exposes my own personal truths.

How did you get started?

I started writing, mostly short stories, at the end of elementary school. In my first year of high school, I began to write poetry – not complete poems, but I started to explore articulating images with language. The real first poet I read in depth was Pablo Neruda, but I had been writing poetry many years before that.

Who are the best poets around right now?

Even though they are dead, in my opinion, the best poets that I have read areTheodore Roethke, Sylvia Plath, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Rainer Marie Rilke, Pablo Neruda, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Dylan Thomas.

Where are the best places to publish?

A lot of the smaller indie presses – online and in print (or both) are great, as they don’t seem to have an agenda or pre-conceived intellectual ideas or what poetry should or should not be. Most people operating these presses are poets themselves and do it solely out of love of poetry and in establishing a sense of community amongst writers.

What are you reading right now?

The Hills Beyond by Thomas Wolfe.

What advice would you give to other writers?

I don’t have any advice, but for me, I write a lot. I also throw out 90 per cent or more of what I write. I write only when I feel an inner push, a necessity to write. Also, I have had to learn that there is no one way, one place to write, it happens when it must- making diner, having a shower, before bed, walking the dog or sitting still in the morning when everone else in the household is asleep. Sometimes it doesn’t happen for weeks or months, and that too is part of process.

Profiles in Poetry interview 1 Profiles in Poetry interview 2 Profiles in Poetry interview 3

http://profilesinpoetry.blogspot.ca/2015/10/no-stone-no-god-poem-by-allison.html

http://profilesinpoetry.blogspot.ca/2015/10/profile-in-poetry-allison-grayhurst.html

Click to access Make_the_Wind20160404Allison_Grayhurst.pdf

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

“Grayhurst’s poetry is a translucent, ethereal dream in which words push through the fog, always searching, struggling, and reaching for the powerful soul at its heart. Her work is vibrant and shockingly original,” Beach Holme Publishers.

“Allison’s poetic prose is insightful, enwrapping, illuminating and brutally truthful. It probes the nature of the human spirit, relationships, spirituality and God. It is sung as the clearest song is sung within a cathedral by choir. It is whispered as faintly as a heartbroken goodbye. It is alive with the life of a thousand birds in flight within the first glint of morning sun. It is as solemn as the sad-sung ballad of a noble death. Read at your peril. You will never look at this world in quite the same way again. Your eye will instinctively search the sky for eagles and scan the dark earth for the slightest movement of smallest ant, your heart will reach for tall mountains, bathe in the most intimate of passions and in the grain and grit of our earth. Such is Allison Grayhurst. Such is her poetry,” Eric M. Vogt, poet and author.

“Grayhurst is a great Canadian poet. All of Allison Grayhurst’s poetry is original, sometimes startling, and more often than not, powerful. Anyone who loves modern poetry that does not follow the common path will find Grayhurst complex, insightful, and as good a poet as anyone writing in the world today. Grayhurst’s poetry volumes are highly, highly recommended,” Tom Davis, poet, novelist and educator.