I Stand Up

       I stand up, everything

falls down, the load and the balance

on a soft bed of nothingness to catch

and embrace in a cruel dream

of freedom.

            I draw my breath in the rising wave,

knowing the calm waters are too lonely

for sustenance.

This has butchered my means of survival,

drowning my body in acid-mud.

       This has rounded out the edges, so

like a hard ball, I am tumbling down

an incline that stretches out

to a cliff with fast momentum,

no chance of halting or even slowing down.

       I found a piece of joy in day-to-day service

and must pay with blood flow, extreme heat and drought,

pay and never have a day without survival’s worrisome

stranglehold gnawing out my intestines, making holes

here, serious as death, serious

as an asteroid breaking the atmosphere,

thinning my faith and all I hold sacred,

tying it down on a large rock, trying me up

on a large rock, in slow decomposition,

waiting the buzzard’s peck and sting.

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Copyright © 2023 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

“The poems included in Allison Grayhurst’s poetry collection Running, lightwave riding reveal an impressive artistic perfection and creative energy. The poems are full of lyrical force and show freshness of style. No doubt, this is a significant work. The poems have great power of observation and originality of imagination,” Dr. Karunesh Kumar Agarwal publisher Cyberwit.net

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Published in “Quick World News” October 2024

https://quick-world-news.com/?p=14544

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Published in “Ephemeral Elegies” June 2023

https://ephemeralelegies.com/2023/06/26/i-stand-up-by-allison-grayhurst/

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Published in “Fevers of the Mind” June 2023

https://feversofthemind.com/2023/06/05/a-poetry-showcase-allison-grayhurst-june-2023/

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First published in “Kavya Kishor” March 2023

https://en.kavyakishor.com/2023/03/07/poet-allison-grayhursts-poems/

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Published in “Our Poetry Archive 100 Anniversary Issue”, July 2023

https://ourpoetryarchive.blogspot.com/2023/07/allison-grayhurst.html

https://ourpoetryarchive.blogspot.com/2023/07/our-poetry-archive-july-2023-issue-no.html

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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Immersed

This shift is gracious

like a runaway found and comforted.

Disguised as an axe-lop,

as a callous reduction of earned respect,

this shift is permission

for exploration, expansion into

clear waters, tickled by the fish seen

circling below.

I can greet those fish,

each one as an individual, bend my body

and enjoy the details of their scales,

the space between their fins, and their lips,

thick and sometimes scarred

by hooks or other near-disasters.

I can give up my burden, my self-attention

and observe, appreciate their maneuvering

between my calves and shins, over my toes,

curious at these fleshy stumps of mine,

appearing in their home.

I can tell them I am friendly,

a friend, not here to make a disturbance.

I can be motionless for a while, because of the shift.

Because of the shift I am opened, receiving gladly

each delicate undulating swerve,

each nibble, sway.

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Copyright © 2023 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

“The poems included in Allison Grayhurst’s poetry collection Running, lightwave riding reveal an impressive artistic perfection and creative energy. The poems are full of lyrical force and show freshness of style. No doubt, this is a significant work. The poems have great power of observation and originality of imagination,” Dr. Karunesh Kumar Agarwal publisher Cyberwit.net

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Published in “Hobo Camp Review” May 2023

https://hobocampreview.blogspot.com/2023/05/allison-grayhurst.html

https://hobocampreview.blogspot.com/2023/05/hobo-camp-review-issue-44-summer-2023.html

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Published in “Literary Cocktail Magazine” May 2023

Literary Cocktail Magazine Spring Issue 2023

https://www.literarycocktailmagazine.com/issues

Click to access Literary-Cocktail-Magazine-Spring-Issue-2023.pdf

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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Pasture

I can see my mind in victory

over the clinging contaminating thoughts

that used to spiral in a vigorous loop

through my days even when in joy,

even when hearing a tambourine tune

rise up, happy and fresh.

Now those thoughts struggle to stand,

abandoned in a desert vast

and widowed. Dehydrated unto death

they sometimes whisper, but barely have a hold

or exert a reasonable authority.

My shame has packed its belongings and left.

My self-pity has reduced its wound

to a pin-prick along with my bitterness.

Gratitude is the only dream worth feeding.

I will feed it and not be overwhelmed

or react to desperate hungry

rumblings, not react in desperation

to what is lacking on the canvas, on the alter,

or in my understanding and this growing surrender.

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Copyright © 2023 by Allison Grayhurst

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

“The poems included in Allison Grayhurst’s poetry collection Running, lightwave riding reveal an impressive artistic perfection and creative energy. The poems are full of lyrical force and show freshness of style. No doubt, this is a significant work. The poems have great power of observation and originality of imagination,” Dr. Karunesh Kumar Agarwal publisher Cyberwit.net

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Published in “Otherwise Engaged Literature and Arts Journal” July 2023

Click to access 11.2-Otherwise-Engaged-Part-II-1.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SP2TQV/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1688560691&refinements=p_27%3AMarzia+Dessi&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Marzia+Dessi

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Published in “Sahityapost” June 2023

https://sahityapost.com/english/poems/107248/

https://sahityapost.com/category/english/

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First published in “Synchronized Chaos” May 2023

https://synchchaos.com/poetry-from-allison-grayhurst-14/

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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