What is

Posted on November 16, 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

What is

What is the end

but a decision made

on a balcony, in a storm,

in solitude – evoking the

eternal and finite as one, in one

swift movement?

What is peace

but a landscape

with satellite trees and a warm moon

caressing the grasslands and the river

beside the grasslands humming

the electric-nerve sound

of its existence?

What is the beginning

but emptiness

after a flood or a fire, giving back

to God what has always been God’s

and then standing, maybe stepping,

free and unprotected from gravity

and from time?

What is it now

to watch my mother changing,

deteriorating, needing more and more,

hurting more and more?

To be privileged to love her, to be

her sun and star and the daughter

her great soul deserves as it readies

to depart, as it takes this journey –

pitching clear one minute and confused

the next, underlining the creases in books,

reading out loud the words of our Jesus –

grace so grand and divine, it is terrifying

for both of us, knowing what is ahead,

trusting that great love to carry her

mercifully, and even tenderly,

through that final door.

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Copyright © 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

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Published in “International Web Post” (in Italian and in English) February 2025

https://www.internationalwebpost.org/le-traduzioni-di-poesia-allison-grayhurst/

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Published in “Jeju The Pen Literature” (translation in Korean) October 2024

https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Jeju-The-Pen-Literature.pdf

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Published in “Saturno Magazine” (translation in Italian) November 2024

https://www.saturnomagazine.com/dettagli-articolo.php?id=594

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Published in “Gazeta Destinacioni” (translation in Albanian) October 2024

https://gazetadestinacioni.al/poetja-allison-grayhurst-perktheu-irma-kurti/

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Published in “Orfeu.AL” (translation in Albanian) October 2024

https://orfeu.al/allison-grayhurst-shqiperoi-irma-kurti

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Published in “Italia News Media – Alessandria Today” (in English and in Italian) September 2024

https://alessandria.today/2024/09/19/what-is-che-cose-allison-grayhurst-canada-translated-by-a-cura-di-irma-kurti/

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First published in “Raven Cage Zine” March 2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KziCD-bCLEHpu7HuqF-ipNutR-5Bf_Gx/view?pli=1

https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/RavenCageZine88.pdf

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/What-is.m4a?_=1

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Book 36: The Light Given, 2024, Edge Unlimited Publishing – available

Posted on July 13, 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

The Light Given

(2023, Edge Unlimited Publishing;; ISBN: 9798378690404; ASIN: B0D6L7GTDL; ISBN: 9798328036238)

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You can purchase the book as a PDF download:

The Light Given

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OR

You can purchase the book in paperback or kindle or hardcover:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6KKP3W7?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.B8eSEGpJXSI5QknkrHWozg3tm8fKbGcibATi42jPnYWO_yPfkJS0207pHR9uPdCQt1JkDCG3hV1RT2NGlbxqooxBXdD5YEXrO1oLyspylf6b_wJjqXAxO3xSTHA06Po8465phKpBwJoWgYsA9H-GGXL226c72ojQ1RFWkBcF8z0Ft1qdivCB6ujnIfkDC4QruQfmX3G8EXtVhXCmxZORycqBUQfQbXoto-jJvUyxBgY.9TLjAzownvDGP5FSf-N03N3RvGEqUy1QqdoY2cjWvPg&dib_tag=AUTHOR

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0D6KKP3W7/ref=sr_1_42?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ovSJVWN36vMjYzM_jxfFhLt3vpVnfAXWcN7iAXipeMrDop8EBZq5g-zdVv_MLP2eokTG5jZiZF6B7CIpzS7bJb4oEj6bjDDcURw-avIC5ybwFDpvouQ0jstZRyxi6F4-cjeGuNVELnMm3lQNt9iEfZFjifQ_BvuzscqhjG83QPMFmHhI9tOgoDrcSo9PBiXoUtACqwxg8HEfSeoN0QH2EJUhQDVMGPZ_QQVPNwm-tjKLmlZvXrb7toPFIdnaMrjljy_cJ-T_xzer3iT1B0nalJRWrYmt5oSadYHmNTGtMY0.gu3ENgVxAhB6nIcVMEfTN7M_Rj6C9eo3BCSVzLJ55YY&dib_tag=se&keywords=allison+grayhurst&qid=1717849818&sr=8-42

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D6KKP3W7?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.eg0BgYpVUs79-FtRJmhwe0tMzLHc3mWWB7hgZVIlPFptdIzl-pnHi9Alpv-0S6hcMByht1bK2_vsxMwebMU4yz2OA0hPNUVEt6S4rzHpZmOJS5FCUOfTvheNb6eb2S-xlGql-C5EvWcKcZjGOGoTLBytAt8dLSQZiyM52bMnjyTRePD-VXODAQOWTNqoZoh0_sFaNFNcnr43D2UzaDJ0_AfZAsR9Rofm2ztOmI38pOI.3kQBT5ZiwxN25-H2q8ZtuSMa6j-GOF7jlX4LtRGFJyQ&dib_tag=AUTHOR

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My Mother’s Sky (part 34 of 34)

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

I am lifted

Blood on a field Blood in a cloud

and then so many

streams flowing, unassuming.

I take your hand, lean

over you and kiss your forehead,

weeping, praying, saying

again and again I love you, thank you.

Your breaths are short, coming from below

not from your chest, but from your deepest gut,

stillness, ease, a letting go.

I drop like a bird on your shoulder.

I know you are leaving. You know

it is a beautiful alchemy, accumulation

of a life so gloriously lived. I tell you

to take Jesus’ hand and he will take you

to the golden tender light of eternal heaven.

You take his hand, and God

has become the atmosphere,

encapsulating, removing time.

Your last breath is more

a soft sigh than a breath,

not a cross-wind of struggle,

not a brush-stroke of “But wait..”

You are gone.

Seagulls fill the view from the window,

circling, joyful in their angelic form.

You are free.

My heart has merged with yours,

forest blue, deep and rich and forever.

My mother, my powerful ally,

friend for all ages – goodbye,

the six-month journey to this point

was treacherous, the last weeks, tortuous,

but these final moments were divine,

was God’s grace in full view, mercy

that healed all pain gone before,

resurrection visible like spread-out water lilies

or Elysian Fields, sublime.

My mother, the sky is again yours,

embracing the seen and unseen spectrums.

Your sky is prophecy, feeding

the bedrock and the water’s reflection,

all parts proved sacred, identical

to the immutable moving whole.

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Copyright © 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/My-Mothers-Sky-recording-34.m4a?_=2

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Read whole poem:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/my-mothers-sky/

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