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Mother

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A gentle goodness

has joined her rhythm.

Her social gift

is why she is so loved,

and for her compassion

that she holds out without

envy or pride.

Hers is a nature that forgives,

making room for the outcast and

the brave.

When my heart arched beyond recognition,

she bore her own ancient wounds

to ease my lonely labour.

When her husband died, the light was cut out

of her eyes and a new light awoke that carries in it

the weight and ravages of death.

I need her like family,

like a good friend

or water in my mouth.

She gives substance to my shadow,

moisture to my pores. She blocks out the sounds

of the noonday world, being for me

someone to talk to and someone to sometimes

lean my fallen dreams upon.

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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First published in “Medusa’s Kitchen” May 2017

http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.ca/2017/05/from-depths-of-tomorrow.html

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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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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Outliving the Inevitable

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As lions groom

in African lands, so kissing

bends the intent of the assassin,

making safe the fangy mouth

and the weedy waters.

I will lie down in my heaven

though the light breeds in me like the guts of an

unhealable wound and I fail the simple rule of forgiveness.

I will dig out the bones from the sands

and scissor the serpent’s tongue.

Drunk on complaining, on naming my cloud

my crown, I will find a new rhythm in the oceans

and sleep like one just born. I will talk

to the half-mast moon and translate

the crows’ territorial song.

The old dog snarls and the pigeons seem happy

resting on the window sill.

If I must return to witness the same casualty,

return to tread the sewer’s underbelly, then I will bury

some love in the fall and call the small graces

my exotic fruit.

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Copyright © 2002 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

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First published in “Outlaw Poetry” April 2017

https://www.outlawpoetry.com/outliving-the-inevitable-by-allison-greyhurst/

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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.

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