Devotion

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Allison Grayhurst

Devotion

What links

and where?

Was I always flushing with need

there are your feet

with a terrible tenderness

or tenderness unborn?

I have watched you walk

certain you will never run,

mystified by your suffering.

Was there ever a miracle great enough to touch you?

The world is madness, unsafe,

and you are captive to that tragedy

trying for an impossible life

I have imagined brighter days

I have imagined to be eternally in love

enslaved by nothing

delivered from everything

I have imagined a life unabstract.

More than flesh,

but never more.

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Before the Dawn was published in 1989 by The Plowman, written by Allison Grayhurst under the pseudonym of Jocelyn Kain.

Published in “Medusa’s Kitchen” May 2018

http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.ca/2018/05/a-great-wind-came-rushing.html

First published in “The Plowman: A Journal of International Poetry” 1989

You can listen to this poem by clicking below:

Into the Fire

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Allison Grayhurst

Into the Fire

My egg

sticks to my womb

wanting something

like a thunderbolt

My love

makes havoc in my breast

like a sinister struggle.

I am expecting him

his lost satisfaction

stretched out to annihilate my own

I am expecting him like

a flickering tongue, a goodnight kiss

in the twisted cry of his need,

folding up inside of me

expecting

a terrible after effect

My love hovers in a madman’s purgatory,

where eternity gets stuck in a single moment,

no claimed victory, no wingspread

to express his freedom

I continue in silence

expecting him…

I will never sleep again.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

Before the Dawn was published in 1989 by The Plowman, written by Allison Grayhurst under the pseudonym of Jocelyn Kain.

Published in “Medusa’s Kitchen” May 2018

http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.ca/2018/05/a-great-wind-came-rushing.html

First published in “The Plowman: A Journal of International Poetry” 1989

You can listen to this poem by clicking below:

A Great Wind Came Rushing

Posted on April 30, 2018 by Allison Grayhurst

A Great Wind Came Rushing

A great wind came rushing

and I said to the wind

“Bitter wind, stop before you carry me off.”

A great wind came rushing

and pulled me into the sky,

I travelled past wheat-fields

sailed under its furious reign.

I was broken into many pieces,

hit what the wind could not pass through

half-crazed with resistance

I fell to the ground

into worm-holes and the open mouths of laughing children.

I sunk into soil and dreamt of sprouting.

And the wind said to me,

“Do not perish with fright in these strange places,

close your eyes and wait for spring.”

Spring came,

I cracked and grew flesh

then like a vine I crawled out of that dark ground

and found the sun

soothed by heat and rain

I praised the earth with untainted joy

And I said to the earth,

“Sweet earth, allow me to walk.”

Gradually my limbs found movement

lips formed, eyes appeared, blue and wide

and I ran from land to land

celebrating life with each step.

I wore no clothes, carried no yard stick

found equal peace, equal rapture

with every new encounter.

A great wind came rushing

and I said to the wind

“Powerful wind, come carry me off

for I am still young and can bear the storm.”

Weightless with excitement

I joined its intense ride

gathered at the centre

halfdead with stillness

I gave myself up

lost the beating of my pulse, lost momentum

sunk low into my depths, immune to singing

And the voice said to me

“Do not despair with sorrow in this vacant hollow,

open your eyes and wait for love.”

Love came,

I expanded and felt communion

Like a clam I crept out of my isolation

and shone my pearl

Like a clam I closed back my shell

and hid in the safety of darkness.

And I said to my love,

“I am as incapable of loving as much as

everyone else is.” And my lover said back to me,

“So am I.”

A great wind came rushing

And I said to the wind,

“Great wind, be still

It is time now to learn.”

The great wind ceased.

My love and I walk hand in hand

on an unknown mission, swept away,

carried by each other, alone.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

Before the Dawn was published in 1989 by The Plowman, written by Allison Grayhurst under the pseudonym of Jocelyn Kain.

Published in “Medusa’s Kitchen” May 2018

http://medusaskitchen.blogspot.ca/2018/05/a-great-wind-came-rushing.html

First published in “The Plowman: A Journal of International Poetry” 1989

You can listen to this poem by clicking below:

Twilight

Posted on September 16, 2017 by Allison Grayhurst

Twilight

There is a beat in the darkening air

that whispers of love and laughter

There is song in the rippling wind

so moving

so unmeasured

that even dreams

cannot meet its glory

There is colour

There is more than power

in one stroke

in one fallen ray

that gives rhythm

to a discordant day

They say

Night comes

like death comes

eventually

But there,

Oh there! The first star . . .

Before the Dawn was published in 1989 by The Plowman, written by Allison Grayhurst under the pseudonym of Jocelyn Kain.

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

Published in “The Peregrine Muse” July 2017

https://sites.google.com/site/theperegrinemuseii/home/grayhurst

First published in “The Plowman: A Journal of International Poetry” 1989

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

https://allisongrayhurst.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/twilight.m4a

Reviews below of Allison Grayhurst’s chapbook “Before the Dawn” were published in the “The Plowman – A Journal of International Poetry” 1989:

“Throughout these 54 poems there is a ring of truth, an honesty few poets inject into their writing. I hope there is a follow-up to the book, because it leaves one with the desire to hear more, to know what will happen next, to discover the net result of the woven pattern of emotion and intensity that will come from the pen of this stirring author,” poet C.F. Kennedy

“Jocelyn Kain’s chapbook Before The Dawn, is thick with mixed images of rain, smoking cigarettes, the sea – images that appear in other poems, but in Kain’s poetry, the images come alive in a melancholic dance of the soul. This book is fresh, emotional, quality poetry. If Kain’s talents continue to improve, she will someday prove to be a noteworthy literary figure,” poet Davy Wood.