Lift II

If I stay under ice

in a house as vast as the sea,

cut off from the sun,

I will bloat up on anxiety’s quickening,

gaining nothing but a heaviness uncurable

and inevitable as iron-core gravity, heating.

So I will lift myself up onto the sides of

the cracked ridges, gaze at the clouds overhead

and write my new name in the air.

Breathing is simple like God’s grace is simple

and only needs to be received to be seen.

My body is a dream spinning in thirst,

banging into hard edges as it seeks

satisfaction, snatched from divinity in its

death-spread, doomed to be finite and always

hungry.

I love the clear riser, the way forward

when there is no way to be found.

I will be the clear riser,

rising like a bubble-balloon, escaping,

carried by the wind.

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Copyright © by Allison Grayhurst 2025

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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Published in “Academy of the Heart and Mind” May 2026

https://academyoftheheartandmind.com/2026/05/11/lift/

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First published in “Winamop” December 2025

https://www.winamop.com/ag2500.htm

You can listen to the poem below:

This Place

        From a place of trust

I glimpse your magnificence,

your harnessed race of complexities

in harmony, slow moving, more

powerful than a hundred suns

conjoining.

        From a place of faith,

being wrong is just as exciting

as being right – a longing to know

you, knowing I will never know you

only know the minute aspects that flip

and twist and rewrite as my knowledge grows,

while keeping some laws fundamental.

        From a place of love,

your love is gathering in

bright awe-inspiring displays,

terrifying in their brilliance and

in their magnitude.

Nothing is personal. Everything is individual,

overreaching galaxies into galaxies,

twin dreams.

        From a place of exploration,

finding inspiration

where paradox consumes,

invigorates, illuminates

all places, gloriously shifting.

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Copyright © by Allison Grayhurst 2025

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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Published in “Ink Pantry” April 2026

https://inkpantry.com/poetry-drawer-this-place-surrendered-she-out-by-allison-grayhurst/

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Published in “Our Poetry Archive” April 2026

https://ourpoetryarchive.blogspot.com/2026/04/april-2026-v-12-n-1-issue-no-133.html

https://ourpoetryarchive.blogspot.com/2026/04/allison-grayhurst.html

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Published in “Synchronized Chaos” February 2026

https://synchchaos.com/synchronized-chaos-first-february-issue-tba/

https://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-allison-grayhurst-17/

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First published in “Poesy Place” January 2026

https://www.poesyplace.com/this-place-a-poem-by-allison-grayhurst

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You can listen to the poem below:

Head bowed

The numbing curse

of resentment comes

to capture me

in its lumpy maggot-riddled

corpse, putting on my back

a burden I am aware of

I cannot keep.

And even though I wash and scrub,

daily cleansing myself of its

putrid stench, it returns, living,

climbing my shoulders into my hair.

I know the only clear path is forgiveness,

no matter my so-called-righteous-heart

cawing for justice. I know I will never

find peace this way, nor mercy

unless I can give it.

I am the one who need forgiveness

for allowing this monstrosity to suckle on

my spirit for so long.

I thought I was past it.

I thought I truly became a citizen,

sealing my covenant.

But it is here again,

raging like before, expecting

vindication.

I hope it is a ghost of its first-self,

still large but flimsy, visible

but lacking all density.

I pray I can overcome its devouring song

and show the love to others

that I myself have been given.

Open here, casting off

its angry cries,

its barbarian anguish

blocking my own way forward

into saving deliverance.

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Copyright © by Allison Grayhurst 2025

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

.

Published in “Our Poetry Archive” April 2026

https://ourpoetryarchive.blogspot.com/2026/04/april-2026-v-12-n-1-issue-no-133.html

https://ourpoetryarchive.blogspot.com/2026/04/allison-grayhurst.html

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Published in “Synchronized Chaos” February 2026

https://synchchaos.com/synchronized-chaos-first-february-issue-tba/

https://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-allison-grayhurst-17/

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First published in “Poesy Place” December 2025

https://www.poesyplace.com/head-bowed-a-poem-by-allison-grayhurst

You can listen to the poem below: