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The Jester and the Monk

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The jester and the monk went walking

The winter moon

hung like a skull above their heads

Two before midnight

prayed by the river

laughed in the apple orchards

holding hands

they circled a forest of dreams

 

The jester poked a tongue at the sky

the monk dripped tears on the earth

nailed to absurdity

locked in serious sainthood

campfire burned

children linked arms

close to their love

 

If not for the living thirst

If not for the agonized fascination

and the ignited chill

no blue bird would they have betrayed

no house would they have entered

like wings

flapping in an undecided wind.

 

A thousand hours

counting many dawns,

nights of humour and holiness

Anyone could feel the connection

resting in their smiles

Anyone would have swam an Artic sea

to soothe the burn

blistering the strength of their hold.

 

What they wanted

neither dared to understand

only a bridge

mouthfuls of truth

handfuls of lies

drove them together

inseparable.

 

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Copyright © 1989 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

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Joshua’s Shoulder was published  in 1989 by The Plowman, written by Allison Grayhurst under the pseudonym of Jocelyn Kain.

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Published in “The Peregrine Muse” April 2018

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

.

 

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

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You can listen to this poem by clicking below:

 

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Selina

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What were you seeking

as you walked

year past year

through the talking crowd?

 

When he’d ask

of the cold terror

that would sweep through your heart

moving like freezing rain

towards his eyes

all you could remember

was summer

a week of silence in the heat

when you endured his visits

like a weight

you longed to unleash.

 

Beggars battled their hunger

near your home

you could smell the decay

reeking of bad alcohol

and heavy insanity

 

He would climb

like an old man

onto your body

inject his virility

fade into a dreamless snore

and you would listen to that awkward rhythm

thinking of your mother

childhood

waves never reaching shore.

 

All fled from your fire

sleep was short

waking was difficult

occasionally a star

would shake inside of you

spread its silver shoots

and separate the surrounding night.

 

You must have known from the beginning

how meagre his love could be

You must have tried hard

to inherit some joy

from the faces

you kept etched on your windowsill

 

Out of all of them,

his was the thinnest

but still some gesture of affection

fated to overpower you

when he held out his boorish hand

waiting to be love.

 

In the lonely air of age

grief watched on

as you laughed

fast and forceful

concealing the wound

behind charm and habit.

 

Selina, you died

like a country woman

barred by the pine trees

Selina, you wore clothes

scented with velvet flowers

and spring after a storm . . .

 

pretending the dance went on

despite your exhaustion.

.

.

Copyright © 1989 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

Joshua’s Shoulder was published  in 1989 by The Plowman, written by Allison Grayhurst under the pseudonym of Jocelyn Kain.

.

Published in “The Peregrine Muse” April 2018

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

.

 

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

.

You can listen to this poem by clicking below:

 

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.

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Foothold

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.

I think midnight

is a future swelling

ready for wreckage

then prayer, then sun

I think the animals

have voices,

many, too motionless to hear

A backbone, crushed

a starfish, exploding

good emotion squandered

out of fear of failure –

all of this exist

in union with the empty eve

 

Old people understand

the brave business of life

some, they have conquered competition

cold, ceasing to cry

some, they feel like fugitives

nearing the boundaries of death

shaking like a season

that has lost its beginning

a harvest

ill, unused

 

I dream of footholds

I dream deliberate

draining meaning

out of every moment

I dream of souls patterned

like constellations

 

In the snow

a flame was born

Darkness is pointless

lacking the owl’s eyes

 

I used to house the harrowing hooligans

This way, I have restored my temple

burying my body below sand,

joining the desert

devoted.

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.

Copyright © 1989 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

Joshua’s Shoulder was published  in 1989 by The Plowman, written by Allison Grayhurst under the pseudonym of Jocelyn Kain.

.

Published in the “Peregrine Muse” April 2018

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

.

 

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

.

You can listen to this poem by clicking below:

.

.