Turn to me, I turn

skinned,

striking a blow

to the inner circle.

My soul is a peanut,

two parts, shelled, asymmetrical.

Unity is divine, to kill

is never excusable or brave or

holy.

The bloodwind is the wind

that turns to defeat every journey

in disaster.

Take a mouthful – swirl the grey slime

of decline and the sharp spikes

of uncertainty, to swallow and know this

is what is meant to be

and what you have is this moment

to love and this moment again

to love

and the rest is not worth one thought,

is too much to take in,

so take in and yield to its power.

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Copyright © 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

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You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

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Read whole poem:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/my-mothers-sky/

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Blended

into this scenery, this sick bed

and the watered-downed horizon.

It is weak with over-empathizing

tearing crusts off until all protection

is gone from my soft mushy core.

I cannot acclimatize to this grief,

her life-force-fading drawn into my own

bruised blood of doom, dooming my

own cells and strength into this unfair despair,

unsoothable scorch and decay.

A washing down after every visit, care-day

so I do not mimic the symptoms

of death and dying and the aching

anguish of helplessness.

This path will not lead

to a garden but to a cliff,

a farewell without ever coming back.

Each step toward the edge is torture

when taken, is forced not taken because

there is no standing still against it,

no turning around, the inevitable is absolute.

This path is darkness, and this darkness

is complete love – heavy, high above,

a terrifying incarnation.

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Copyright © 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

.

.

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

.

Read whole poem:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/my-mothers-sky/

.

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Inside, full of hot nerves

sinking without the sight of tentacles

or a slice of coral

to latch onto.

Your faculties, twisted,

breaking logic into shards.

Freedom came like a larger stone to carry,

duty like a sunburn, burning, causing

the first and second layer of skin to blister.

Useless music passes, cannot be kept

or remembered. The space is traveled

knocking against corners, bruising bones

and the remains of visions.

Stings on the pads of your feet

in the white of your eyes.

Inside, we are a tall-tower rubble,

a stack of concrete broken blocks

and bodies

and grief that lasts generations.

Inside, there is a ship enticing

we cannot board,

a mutual weariness,

a ghostly outage blackout,

blinding us from seeing

sharp corners, soft cushions,

the way to retrieve

a glass

in the kitchen, on the counter

of already poured, useful water.

.

.

Copyright © 2024 by Allison Grayhurst

.

.

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

.

Read whole poem:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/my-mothers-sky/

.

.