Wedding Band

So much already surprised us,

the seizure thinning of sanity, thickening

chaotic bile.

The loss, barely bearable,

the ineffectualness of love,

all kaleidoscopes shattered, every facet of our beings,

bent to, immersed in, fragility.

It wasn’t the stars – 

they are always saying

hoot! and ahhhh!

it has never been them nor

their sway upon our inner equilibrium and

our outer balancing of gravity.

It wasn’t even how deep and involved our prayers were

or even our feeble masks of courage,

denting our dignity so we could have a new form to try on,

taste, and learn what taste is, yet again.

What it was and is is chance,

the dispelling of random energy until the whole illusion grows

transparent – and we, divinely shocked out of

our complacency, our certainty,

resemble helpless fledglings, crushed

by a fall.

What it is is rising,

rising from that, still broken,

incapable of flight, but

capable of asking God

to lift us and wait with faith

for the rising up.

What it is is leaving

our crushed shells while still inhabiting them,

living for the fountain-spring, the miracle,

not working within the natural laws, not

manipulating those laws with tailspin good luck charms,

knowing the miracle is in our leaving,

accepting our unknowing

in this bright surrender, this marriage vow,

river received, inception.

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 “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:

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: