Before I Go

Posted on February 18, 2025 by Allison Grayhurst

Before I Go

Before I go

and put out the campfire,

offering my condolences

to the abandoned child,

I will let my grief go first.

I will dispel it as energy

gathered between my palms, then blow it

like seeds of transformation out of my blood

and into a happy beginning.

Now I will go. Summer is here and my sorrow

has lost its footing. I will make a collage of

my crashed expectations, peel away the crust

until I unveil a flower.

Talking is useless, right now, only moving matters,

walking away from an impossible situation,

releasing the ghost to haunt its four corners,

releasing my failure

to create love.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published in “poeticdiversity: the litzine of Los Angeles”, April 2014

http://www.poeticdiversity.org/main/poems-cp.php?recordID=1851&date=2014-04-01

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

Before I Go

Only for a time

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Allison Grayhurst

Only for a time

bodies curse the morning

and find the bulk of their cursing

burned by the awakening of outside creatures.

Waiting, when waiting is not called for,

when what is necessary is to be still

without anticipation, to step into the miracle

of listening – sounds of kestrels circling low, sounds

of territorial squirrels and young robins

flexing their wings. In my eyes, the gulls are angels

arriving face-to-face at my second storey window,

speaking of God’s grace, personal, sharp and pure.

For the last time, chaos will have its say

and cowards will rule my playground.

This is the time of great beginning,

a time of the final letting go.

The birds are beside me, speaking in ways

I again understand, while the world is carving

new structures of dread.

This is the time of open palms and no favours,

a time of birds everywhere, singing for me, but not

for me.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published titled “Time” in “Kalkion”

http://www.kalkion.com/poetry/2087/time

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/only-for-a-time.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.