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enjoy thisAllison Grayhurst writing in the free 2015 PDF file chapbook: No Raft — No Ocean (click on the front cover image or the title text to download the free PDF file)				You can also order this as a 2015 6" x 9" perfect-bound paperback ISBN# book! Click on the book cover to order No Raft - No Ocean as a book at any time!

Past obligation

Allison Grayhurst

Perched and listening,
a point of war.
Several days I lived in a hole,
shoulder shot by the blast
of a rubber hammer coming down.
Clear as pacing, counting
the clock ties, permits overdue,
you stayed like a waning moon, unobtrusive
in a cloud-cloaked sky -
the only light left to have. Somewhere in
that shady disaster I bought a dream,
almost new, with you, carefully walking
the wet rocks. I fell asleep and you stayed, documenting
my close-to-death dawn. Fishing me out of the fishtank,
releasing me into wide open waters.
Middle age is best, sea-worn but still pursuing.
You stayed – an island never claimed by reptiles,
a freight train, moving slow enough to chase and board.
Thank you for staying, for your fervent destiny
choke-collar-chain and your eyes
of tender extremes. I lay it down.
The lizard with the leaf.
The primal mysticism I built my struggle on.
I lay beside you, knowing you climbed many stairs
to find me, and you stayed.

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