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This book, The Longing To Be, and all of its content are the copyright © of Allison Grayhurst 1998
(front cover sculpture and photo of sculpture © by Allison Grayhurst)
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Book 2
The Longing To Be
(1998, Edge Unlimited Publishing; ASIN: B00CH94ZNK; ISBN-10: 1478197684; ISBN-13: 978-1478197683)
Links to read each poem within the book:
The Longing to Be
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2011/11/26/the-longing-to-be/
These I See
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/08/19/these-i-see/
Crush This Colour
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/11/01/crush-this-colour/
Together Journeying
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2014/12/21/together-journeying/
First Snow of Winter
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2013/11/27/first-snow-of-winter-2/
In His Arms
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/01/06/in-his-arms/
Jealousy
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/12/jealousy/
With arms stretched,
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/20/with-arms-stretched/
In The Days
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/19/in-the-days/
Swim
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2012/02/04/swim/
He is
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2014/03/10/he-is/
Once
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/05/once/
The Stone-frame
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2013/09/18/the-stone-frame-2/
Nothing Without You
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/07/28/nothing-without-you/
Days To Break The Richest Dream
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2014/11/17/days-to-break-the-richest-dream/
A Month Unthawed
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2014/11/15/a-month-unthawed/
New Lovers
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/07/27/new-lovers/
Donkey
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/06/donkey/
As The Serpents Scatter
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/06/03/as-the-serpents-scatter/
Possessive
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/03/03/possessive/
Party
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/04/20/party/
The Jesus Fire
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/06/10/the-jesus-fire/
Chosen Kin
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/03/04/chosen-kin/
Birthright
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/09/13/birthright/
Lessons at the End of the Rope
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/01/07/lessons-at-the-end-of-the-rope/
Nights With You
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/03/05/nights-with-you/
Imprisoned
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/07/imprisoned-2/
In Spite of Vows
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2013/07/25/in-spite-of-vows/
You are
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2012/12/27/poem-published-in-the-blue-hour/
Where Gold Is Blood
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/01/05/where-gold-is-blood-2/
The Storm That Saves
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/03/06/the-storm-that-saves/
Of Body and Spirit
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/03/07/of-body-and-spirit/
Wedding
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/08/wedding/
Three Blessings in the Shade
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/01/04/three-blessings-in-the-shade/
Like the Colour Blue
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/12/03/like-the-colour-blue/
The Tension and Terror of Being
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2012/06/03/the-tension-and-terror-of-being-2/
Without Opportunity
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/05/12/without-opportunity/
Matriarch
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/11/05/matriarch/
What Day?
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/09/29/what-day/
Dying Sculptor
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/12/15/dying-sculptor/
Show of Light
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2013/10/04/show-of-light-2/
Baptized
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2012/05/16/babtized/
By Water
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/09/by-water/
Here, I am lifted
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/10/here-i-am-lifted/
Upon These Hours Sleeping
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/11/upon-these-hours-sleeping/
In Praise of Walt Whitman
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/07/03/in-praise-of-walt-whitman/
Addiction
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/03/08/addiction/
This
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/13/this/
Child Unconceived
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/03/18/child-unconceived/
Animal Sanctuary
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2013/12/01/animal-sanctuary/
The Last Walk of the Mayor of Casterbridge
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/07/04/the-last-walk-of-the-mayor-of-casterbridge/
The Path I Followed
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/14/the-path-i-followed/
Under the Coupling Clouds
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/06/19/under-the-coupling-clouds/
The Aging Artist
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/04/12/the-aging-artist/
Surrender
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/05/02/surrender/
The Quenchable Drain Within
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2014/04/07/the-quenchable-drain-within/
Second Farewell
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/15/second-farewell/
Every Hope Inhaled
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/01/29/21866/
Heart’s Exchange
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/02/08/hearts-exchange/
Through This Strand of Time
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/01/30/through-this-strand-of-time/
When I Close My Eyes
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/07/02/when-i-close-my-eyes/
Unrelenting Groove
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/16/unrelenting-groove/
Walk Low
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2014/09/13/walk-low/
Blood Spent
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/02/22/blood-spent/
The Hope of Lovers
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/02/23/the-hope-of-lovers/
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/08/20/elizabeth-barrett-browning/
Quebec City
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/06/02/quebec-city/
The leach that reaches
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/17/the-leach-that-reaches/
My Heart Creeps
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/04/my-heart-creeps/
Leaning in the Weeds
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/04/02/leaning-in-the-weeds/
elegy of this day being
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2012/05/12/elegyof-this-day-being/
Heritage
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/02/24/heritage/
Dream
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/02/26/dream/
Purest Obedience
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/01/27/purest-obedience/
Overcoming
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/09/04/overcoming/
Because of Yesterday
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/03/07/because-of-yesterday/
Breaking the Circle
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/09/05/breaking-the-circle/
Once I Cried
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/03/08/once-i-cried/
Heart-bearing
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/03/18/heart-bearing/
path
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2013/01/06/poem-published-in-lit-up-magazine-2/
Of The Same Cloth
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/09/12/of-the-same-cloth-2/
Face
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/04/08/face/
After twelve
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2014/06/28/after-twelve/
Near Daybreak
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/08/05/near-daybreak/
In a Stillness
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/10/31/in-a-stillness/
Praying Mantis
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2011/11/16/praying-mantis/
Nightmare
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/02/25/nightmare/
Out of Poverty
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/03/26/out-of-poverty/
For a Lifetime
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2017/04/09/for-a-lifetime/
From the Corner of My Eye
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2016/04/03/from-the-corner-of-my-eye/
Everything Happens
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2015/01/28/everything-happens-2/
Beyond Instinct or Dreams
https://allisongrayhurst.com/2014/01/18/beyond-instinct-or-dreams-2/
Back of the book quotes
“When I read Allison Grayhurst’s poetry, I am compelled by the intensity and strength of her spirituality. Her personal experience of God drives her poetry. With honesty and vulnerability, she fleshes out the profound mystery of knowing at once both the beauty and terror of God’s love, both freedom and obedience, deep joy and sorrow, both being deeply rooted in but also apart from the world, and lastly, both life and death. Her poems undulate through these paradoxes with much feeling and often leave me breathless, shaken. Allison Grayhurst’s poems are both beautiful and difficult to behold,” Anna Mark, poet and teacher.
“A river is in Allison Grayhurst’s poems. Sometimes it rages over boulders hidden beneath rapids. Sometimes it is as calm and placid as a summer day reflecting skies so blue they are as unusual as a Stellar Jay’s wings. Sometimes it is as unpredictable as the rhythm of clouds gathering before a storm. Made up of words, emotions, thoughts, thoughts crystallized into ideas, this river, like most rivers, is unforgettable. One poem cascades after another into a flood of poetry. As in the poetry of Wallace Stevens, Allison Grayhurst’s work can be dense with meanings hidden beneath the flowing surface of words. The emotions in her poems sear with the power of Sylvia Plath. One layer reflects light over another layer of thought and emotion that leads to yet another layer. This is as serious a poet as is writing poetry today. For those adventurous enough to venture into a river wild, deep, calm, beautiful, shadowed, light, filled with moods and emotions of both an inner and the earth’s landscape, then this is a journey worth taking. It leads to experiences that have the texture and substance of life,” Thomas Davis, poet, educator, scholar, playwright, and novelist.
Reviews of The Longing To Be
“The contents of Allison Grayhurst’s book The Longing To Be are both personal and universal and are described in such thematic and golden terms that one can see that a lot of thought has gone into each line. The poems are written mostly in free verse throughout, with both rhythm and soul weaved into them. For some poems, the layout seems experimental, and there is definitely a playfulness in the way that the words and verses fall onto the page. Others do conform to a “norm”, whatever that is. All are dramatic and thoughtful. These are layered poems with new horizons presented to the reader in every re-read. The effect is to keep things fresh with poems that constantly surprise in spite, and because of, the number of times being read. I thoroughly recommend The Longing To Be as a poetry book to study carefully and cherish far into the future,” poet Brian Shirra.
“What can I say about Allison Grayhurst and her creativity that has not already been said…she is a prolific poet. Her poetry has touched my heart and soul,” Ann Johnson-Murphree, poet and author.
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