Oasis?

Cold wave, mother blue
as the dead and empty sky,
orphan sun sitting when
pity has passed, love
has left too for alliances with
the party goers, party-givers
and the run-of-the-mill wealthy mongrels
of deception and worldly favour.

Eyes to the pavement with
the strength and perseverance to find and pluck
the secret egg hidden among the stones,
pluck away shame, guilt and unhealthy obligations,
boil them in the boiler room, send
them into the crematorium
never to again inflict a living hold.

Once plucked what is left hurts like a severed attachment –
lost from warmth and the glowing light
of benevolence.
Devastating, this violation of nature,
this thrust-alone on the high ridge.
Flowers here in pretty colours
are confined to gardens, to gravity
like the rest of us. I walk away from flowers
into a desert where high winds and sand
scratch my face, then
the corneas of my eyes.

Can love be revolutionary here, a miracle here
of abundance, soft affection.? Can it be priceless,
a happy licking tongue, settling
for nothing that isn’t endlessly overflowing,
a waterfall, a child embracing
in fearless abandon?

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 950 poems published in over 400 international journals. She has sixteen published books of poetry, seven collections and nine chapbooks. She lives in Toronto with her family. She is a vegan. She also sculpts, working with clay.