Tag Archives: philosophical

Silence

Posted on by Allison Grayhurst

. 

Silence

 .

I lift the bullfrog from the waters.

Bread, parables and staying close to a legend –

these are things of joy. I am thinking of the grave

near the willow tree, whose roots have grown

around the coffin, and of a sailing ship

that has no home port, but drifts like

a hollow log on living waters.

Freely I made my room and closed the door.

I knelt for our starved country, and grief

wrapped around my sleep, landing safely in my arms.

My father, I dream of your flame. I miss the woods

and your kind goodbyes. Tomorrow is a keyhole

that shapes my hopes with tiny possibilities.

If I could rise like grass from dirt, then

my nerves would be brave and the smell of the sun

would heal me with prayers.

If my eyes were an ocean where the whale

and the seahorse gathered, then I could see mercy

in the shark’s primitive teeth, I would

lie on the surface of a wave,

catching the colours of dusk with

my out-stretched tongue.

.

.

Copyright © 2000 by Allison Grayhurst

3005

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

First published in “Boston Poetry Magazine” titled “In The Silence”, 2013

Boston poetry in the silence 4Boston poetry in the silence 2Boston poetry in the silence 3

http://bostonpoetry.wordpress.com/tag/allison-grayhurst/

.

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

.

I  Am This Creature (drenched in mute history)

Posted on by Allison Grayhurst

 

I  Am This Creature

(drenched in mute history)

.

I am this creature

let loose from the grave,

but still without a Sunday

or a bed of more than weeds and worms.

I am this liar, trapped in fantasy,

a carcass hanging upside down, all cheers and woes

set at high volume.

I was with hunger, a rage of flies on soiled food,

desperate to know fulfillment.

I was a girl, knowing nothing of drugs, but helpless

just the same, a slave to all my girlish visions

of the coming days of promised rapture.

I was a young woman, wearing drab and loose clothes,

never looking in a mirror, talking in tongues,

clenching confusion as a crutch and giving glory

to any glory-seeking teacher.

I am this woman, strong shouldered, a bit threadbare

but wanting

never to rekindle that drowned flame –

a creature in a world of foreign wilderness.

I’m circling, circling a solitary stone.

.

.

Copyright © 2008 by Allison Grayhurst

3015

BookCoverImage Allison GrayhurstTrial and Witness back cover final

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

First published in “South Florida Arts Journal”, 2013

South Florida Arts JournalSouth Florida Arts Journal 2South Florida Arts Journal 7South Florida Arts Journal 6 South Florida Arts Journal 5

http://www.sfaj.org/

.

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

 .

Edified

Posted on by Allison Grayhurst

 

Edified

 .

    Was I bound by the artificial?

Driftwood down an interceding flow?

Horse stance, back muscles rolling, lines of twine,

and fishing. I will not fish or tighten my spinal cord

for the appearance of strength.

I will not bask relaxed in hot spring nobility or lick the nose

of prey I someday plan to devour.

Was I combined or conditioned

to make a unified shape?

    Loudly, my name was spoken. It was God, I am

sure of that. And it was angry, pressing, urging me

to wake and take nothing lightly or so hard.

It was the second time

at the time of 2:30 a.m., when my bed flushed with instant

rigidity, lifting me with dominance

from the gardens of my despair.

    It was spoken as a permit to build, to trap the past inside

the future – not as vintage romanticism, but for the sake

of journeying onward, to be integrated

with what must be re-owned, absolved by the fact

that nothing can escape the impact of eternity. I was shown

that the igloo mansions I once erected,

featuring such elaborate depictions,

cerebral justifications of indignant loneliness,

were natural and could not be dismantled.

    I heard my name spoken, calling me to dart alert

from a shrinking sleep, to walk the hallway, carve

myself an inclusive center, to answer boldly,

unconditionally step

into the dictates of a personal command.

.

.

Copyright © 2012 by Allison Grayhurst

3021

img071

No Raft - No Ocean

amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

.

First published in “New Binary Press Anthology”, 2012

img126img127

 

img256img258

http://newbinarypress.com/product/the-new-binary-press-anthology-of-poetry-volume-i/#

http://www.amazon.com/The-Binary-Press-Anthology-Poetry/dp/0957466102/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383226605&sr=8-1&keywords=new+binary+press

.

edified

Click to access 20151023No_Raft_No_Ocean_by_Allison_Grayhurst.pdf

.

Scars writingScars edified 1 Scars edified 2

http://scars.tv/cgi-bin/framesmain.pl?writers

.

You can listen to the poem by clicking below:

  .