The Ride

The Ride

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Again the stars were plucked

from her mind and the world below

leapt up and sponged her with its flame.

That summer she made a wish upon her chains

and walked the deserted farmyards.

The ravens followed her through the weeds

and heat, keeping up conversation. At night

she sang to the beating of the rain and stroked the head

of the dead bug in her pocket.

She was neither of the mountains nor of the desert.

She was calm as crazy sometimes gets, and the thunder

hissed out her name as the June’s morning rays

danced her a sermon. She talked

to her shadow when the birds had gone,

and her fingernails were brittle as cracked ice.

On the seventeenth day her breath collapsed with

the rising sun as the cobwebs about her sparkled, stirred

by a sweetened wind.

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

 

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Full of Crow” 2013

http://www.fullofcrow.com/poetry/archives/allison-grayhurst-july-2013/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18285940-full-of-crow-poetry—july-2013

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Published in “Peedeel’s Blog” April 2016

The Ride

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Published in “Creative Talents Unleashed” November 2017

The Ride – Author Allison Grayhurst

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/the-ride.m4a?_=1

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“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.

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As We Walk

As We Walk

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I spent an hour listening

to the grey and cooling sky, and the blackbirds

that gathered low.

We are but gestures sown

by particles of love, desire and greed.

Few are one tapestry, most are a bit of

all three.

There was a plague in my eyes

that has thinned my expectations, but

I am better.

Being in love this long is like a voyage

underwater, swarming with glorious and

dangerous beings.

You will always be the one to hatch my breath,

the catching flint when I am shipwrecked,

and the good thing I can hold up willingly to the light.

We have been shown there is no grave,

only the mourning. We have been shown

it is the aging in front of each other

that makes aging wonderful.

I no longer worry about what I am going to say

because there is you, with the scent of autumn

strong in your hair.

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

 

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “The Artistic Muse”

http://www.theartisticmuse.com/september-2012-archives.html

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Published in “Creative Talents Unleashed blog” April 2018

As We Walk – Author Allison Grayhurst

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/as-we-walk.m4a?_=2

.

“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.

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Beyond The Grave – the song and the poem

 

River – songs from the poetry of Allison Grayhurst

https://dianebarbarash.bandcamp.com/

https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/dianebarbarash3

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/river-songs-from-the-poetry-of-allison-grayhurst/id1293420648

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0766X9LDJ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507310524&sr=8-1&keywords=diane+barbarash

 

 

The Poem:

 

Beyond The Grave

If all the seeds fell like blood

or blood like seeds into

the ravenous earth and time

was a wagging tail in the dark

then I would know that death would come

by any reason and be a blessing

all on its own. But as it is, death is

the hollow spot of the living – some with

grief and others with fear, and me myself,

it is memory that unbuttons the flesh of my chest

to leave me poked and burning.

It is the hill I climb and stumble

down its rocky incline whenever I return

if only once a day

to meet death’s stalking eyes.

It is not my heart that fails me,

but the things outside

like the shadow on the neighbours’ window

and the frightening madness of so many strangers.

It is here and there like an insect

on my wall, like the fatherly love

I’ll never find again in another’s eyes,

but is with me in the coming autumn air,

and in the quietude of these joy-filled days.

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

   

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Veil – Journal of Darker Musings”

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