Only One

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Allison Grayhurst

Only One

What speaks of tenderness in the dead-blue

aftermath of human-induced horror?

When husband and wife are at odds,

seeing only the diseased boil of slaughter

then non-existence, when the pregnant woman

finds no seat in the midst of a

crowded day?

What speaks of holding on when the world is pale

with grief and parents mock their children’s love

with coldness and condescension?

What eye can see divine magnificence before

its doom? Or find greatness in what

society has ignored or condemned?

On the rafters a single flower is born.

I look to that single flower, like I look to spending

the afternoon with the ones who have endeared,

like the pulse and turn of my infant within

or a brief morning solitude –

open for interpretation.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published titled “Only” in “The Screech Owl” and “The Screech Owl” printed volume one and “The Screech Owl” facebook page

http://thescreechowl.com/the-apple-tree.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/january-2014/the-screech-owl-issue-1/paperback/product-21176882.html

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

On this Dock

Posted on December 2, 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

On this Dock

I hear the white steed

and the fish together

in dark obscurity.

I look at the body of water,

the children weeping to gain control.

I listen for the perishing wind

and declare to it a vigil

of telltale strength.

The journey here faces

the drive of instinct – to buckle

in and walk the safest hallway

or to carry the weight of failure

and still harbour a cry to the fox and a belief

in the many shapes of heaven.

The journey knows its evening

has come and all the beautiful clouds will drop

one by one from the sky.

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First published in “Crisis Chronicles”

http://library.crisischronicles.com/2014/03/27/on-this-dock-by-allison-grayhurst.aspx

http://cclitmag.wordpress.com/category/grayhurst-allison/

New Era

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Allison Grayhurst

New Era

From the start I believed

in never bending, but now I am a weather-vane,

guided by singing.

Now, in movement I grow like a wild weed –

a glutton of untouched terrain.

I have put on the iron mask,

burned my skin for the battles

of another. That shore is sinking

and my globe has altered its axle.

I put away my grown-up philosophy

to live by impulse and the pity of God.

The task is done, the ice is swallowed.

It is time to love the gargoyles and create

a new form of beauty.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published in “The Screech Owl” and “The Screech Owl” Issue 3

Screech owl 3 pic

Screech owl issue 3 a

Screech owl issue 3 a a Screech owl issue 3 d Screech owl issue 3 c Screech owl issue 3 b Screech owl issue 3 e

http://thescreechowl.com/the-apple-tree.html

http://thescreechowl.com/the-owl-loft—store.html

http://www.lulu.com/shop/january-2015/the-screech-owl-issue-3/paperback/product-21987615.html

Published in “Creative Talents Unleashed” January 2019

https://creativetalentsunleashed.com/2019/01/04/new-era-by-allison-grayhurst/

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.