Custodian
Shelter or summit –
a wood they call it, in
a stream, lined up with crossroads and fields of
four directions. Adolescent
they call it,
a dormitory of unforgivable energy,
magnificence embedded into organ-memory,
wondering what could be equal to this
collapse, would something be equal and claim
a path to recovery.
Foul play
they call it, marginalized, a display
of tragedy, like a crippled horse, on the grass,
in the afternoon.
Unjust, you call it, a senseless chemistry
that begins brightly and ends in ash.
Belong with me. Belong here in this intimacy
in this fraction of time, square footage of a place that is ours,
that we imagined and manifested and will not be corrupted.
Forget what they call it, their exhibitions of
ego-soothing massage.
This is our strategy – to touch the canvas
with our intentions pure and concentrated
as they first were – disappointment, devastations
degraded to one sleepless night, then returned
for a greater glory.
Allison Grayhurst is a member of the League of Canadian Poets. Three times nominated for Sundress Publications “Best of the Net” 2015, she has over 850 poems published in over 380 international journals. She has twelve published books of poetry, seven collections, nine chapbooks, and a chapbook pending publication. She lives in Toronto with her family. She is a vegan. She also sculpts, working with clay; www.allisongrayhurst.com
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