Down Between

Down between

this between

the walls of dignity and duty.

Death tells me to sleep,

close the shades and curl up.

The future is a mountain,

madness with no clear line

of victory.

The future is a necklace

I broke but must somehow mend

and try to wear.

I refuse this burden

too blob-like, inhospitable to bear.

I refuse the harm of martyrdom,

the distorted secrets divulged in dreams.

Nail it to the wall, pour boiled water

on it and let it cook until it no longer bleeds.

End this relationship as it reduces your strength

to a failed conclusion.

Flood the garden, drain it

and plant chrysanthemums.

Copyright © 2021 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

 .https://issuu.com/allisongrayhurst/docs/book_32_-ways_of_mercy_-_the_poetry_of_allison_gra

.

First published in “Impspired – Issue 10 and print anthology Volume 5” April/May 2021

https://impspired.com/impspired-issue-10/

https://impspired.com/2021/04/01/allison-greyhurst/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/191413026X

.

.

Published in “Synchronized Chaos” April 2021

http://synchchaos.com/synchronized-chaos-april-2021-escape-room/

http://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-allison-grayhurst-12/

.

.

You can listen to this poem by clicking the link below:

Bookends

I have this day to carry

like a large stone or like

a child.

I can whisper my grievances

to the pockets of clouds

in an otherwise clear sky

or I can make pictures with them

in my mind, be seduced

by their wispy ever-changing boundaries,

divulging the shapes of creatures

I can’t even name, or branches

extending to the edge of the sun.

I can take these last days of freedom

and deliver them to the bitter hunter

before their time or I can hold myself

proper, mortal, clothed in only the day, sober,

bound by neither inevitability nor expectation.

The day has many appendages, tricks and snares.

It is a matter of riding clear, slightly raised

above the ground, able to glide

like in the dream I often have, above the bubble,

sometimes above the trees, moving natural,

past obstacles and footholds, just enjoying the breeze,

the ease of a steady self-directed pace,

and even stopping for meals,

leashed to necessity as I glide,

as I hold a rock, a rose

in either hand.

Copyright © 2021 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

 .https://issuu.com/allisongrayhurst/docs/book_32_-ways_of_mercy_-_the_poetry_of_allison_gra

.

First published in “Impspired – Issue 10 and print anthology Volume 5” April/May 2021

https://impspired.com/impspired-issue-10/

https://impspired.com/2021/04/01/allison-greyhurst/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/191413026X

.

.

Published in “Synchronized Chaos” April 2021

http://synchchaos.com/synchronized-chaos-april-2021-escape-room/

http://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-allison-grayhurst-12/

.

.

You can listen to this poem by clicking the link below:

Cage of Many Pockets and Layers

Lead,

into the land of vermin,

infesting the once blooming shores,

past the emergency-alarm, into

living fires, boiling and sharp in

their arrogant countenance.

Alone on a humble rock, standing –

arms folded, then stretched wide and up.

I take the hand and am led to a land

that tests my dignity and my resolve.

Many voices I must lose, people to leave behind.

The ship is the hand

leading through levels of horror

until the gate opens

to the possibility for redemption.

Wings of demons block the sky – pilgrimage eternal,

shaking off pity for the futile swarm moving

like lips of a mouth moving that offers no sound or groan.

My mind is tied to heaven, committed to resurgence.

My heart breaks but it is still whole, leaving,

being led over the land of naught, where there is plenty

of self-righteous indignation, self-sorrowing gleam

and the shadows,

led through and over

flailing limbs, bodies multiplying –

a thickening mass, swirling, swirling…

Copyright © 2021 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

 .https://issuu.com/allisongrayhurst/docs/book_32_-ways_of_mercy_-_the_poetry_of_allison_gra

.

First published in “Impspired – Issue 10 and print anthology Volume 5” April/May 2021

https://impspired.com/impspired-issue-10/

https://impspired.com/2021/04/01/allison-greyhurst/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/191413026X

.

.

Published in “Synchronized Chaos” April 2021

http://synchchaos.com/synchronized-chaos-april-2021-escape-room/

http://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-allison-grayhurst-12/

.

.

You can listen to this poem by clicking the link below: