There are names

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Allison Grayhurst

There are names

and allegiances that triumph

when spoken aloud. I do not speak

these sounds or have a country

that edges near ecstasy. I have loved badly,

pessimistic, fostered a hostile vacancy

of fantastical hope. Insolent towards God

and the steady rapture that only comes with patience,

I purchased an industry that leaves no mark,

makes nothing useful

or sweet.

Remembering my waxed-leaf collection held

within hard cover books, and the frolicking of field mice

that burrowed patterns into my head. I sat on the bus and

I was alone. Did I know how fragile sanity was, unlocking

doors, imagining mountains on the surface of the sun?

Snared before my shelter broke

and I could be saved by surrender.

A thicket of needles and bushes trembling with little birds.

Contact. Glint.

Won’t something rush at me, increase my odds?

I could send you away, then I could live

cold, complete as a reed or as an angel.

Science will not have me. You will not let me go.

Remembering seashells wrapped in tissue paper, in a box,

on a shelf, just above the closet floor, counting them –

rough external even ridges, glassy sheen empty pocket inside.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published in “River Poets Journal, Volume 8, Issue 3”, 2014

River Poets journal 1 River Poets journal 2 River Poets journal 3 River Poets journal 4 River Poets journal 5 River Poets journal 6

http://www.riverpoetsjournal.com/RiverPoetsJournalPDFfiles.html

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

“Allison’s poetic prose is insightful, enwrapping, illuminating and brutally truthful. It probes the nature of the human spirit, relationships, spirituality and God. It is sung as the clearest song is sung within a cathedral by choir. It is whispered as faintly as a heartbroken goodbye. It is alive with the life of a thousand birds in flight within the first glint of morning sun. It is as solemn as the sad-sung ballad of a noble death. Read at your peril. You will never look at this world in quite the same way again. Your eye will instinctively search the sky for eagles and scan the dark earth for the slightest movement of smallest ant, your heart will reach for tall mountains, bathe in the most intimate of passions and in the grain and grit of our earth. Such is Allison Grayhurst. Such is her poetry,” Eric M. Vogt, poet and author.

“Grayhurst is a great Canadian poet. All of Allison Grayhurst’s poetry is original, sometimes startling, and more often than not, powerful. Anyone who loves modern poetry that does not follow the common path will find Grayhurst complex, insightful, and as good a poet as anyone writing in the world today. Grayhurst’s poetry volumes are highly, highly recommended,” Tom Davis, poet, novelist and educator.

My Body Goes

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Allison Grayhurst

My Body Goes

Through the blinds

my body goes soaring

touching the hawk and

choppy clouds.

It dips through the misty air

holding hands with the winter.

It opens its mouth to taste the wind

and sees a balloon float by.

Then it lands in dunes of sand

covered in unmarred snow.

A wren’s small footprints lead it down the

slope into the underbrush where a

hound dog has curled into a sleeping ball.

It tiptoes past to the sideroad where

two children are singing their ABCs

and making angels in the snow.

When back in flight, it rides the twilight’s rays

into this room and leans

to sip a drink of cold coffee, tasting

like liquorice candy.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

First published in “Literature Today, Volume 1”, 2014

https://www.createspace.com/4942481

http://literaturetodayjournal.webs.com/issues

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Literature-Today-International-Journal-Contemporary/dp/150077975X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412426950&sr=1-3

http://www.amazon.com/Literature-Today-International-Journal-Contemporary/dp/150077975X/ref=la_B001KIWQUS_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423830774&sr=1-3

Published in “Creative Talents Unleashed ” June 2018

https://creativetalentsunleashed.com/2018/06/26/my-body-goes-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.