Art by Ian King (www.fieldghost.com)
Poetry by Allison Grayhurst (Toronto, Canada) 
Above the breeding belittlement
of experience that drives
my means of survival
and ushers in the catastrophe (now locked in my genes)
like a rat ushered in
the plague, someone outside is
waiting, away from pathos or understanding,
away from security and agility, just
waiting to hold my hand and help me make
it through.
Beyond the tightening lungs and the cheerless
decay of my dream system,
a second event unfolds, where faith
is my rapture and I am spinning above
the precipice without a net, but joyfully
turning, my face tilted toward God,
whispering an unshakable anthem, one
of beauty, and of trusting the mettle of my beliefs.
Allison Grayhurst is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets. She has over 450 poems published in more than 225 international journals and anthologies. Her book Somewhere Falling was published by Beach Holme Publishers in 1995. Since then she has published eleven other books of poetry and five collections with Edge Unlimited Publishing. Prior to the publication of Somewhere Falling she had a poetry book published, Common Dream, and four chapbooks published by The Plowman. Her poetry chapbook The River is Blind was published by Ottawa publisher above/ground press in December 2012. More recently, her e-chapbook Surrogate Dharma was published by Kind of a Hurricane Press, Barometric Pressures Author Series in October 2014. She lives in Toronto with her family. She also sculpts, working with clay; www.allisongrayhurst.com
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