"Poem with Erasures from the Bible"

One poem by Alison Stone

Alison Stone

Published on September 30, 2026

Poem with Erasures from the Bible In the beginning the Word was life and life was the darkness and the darkness, God. The world did not own people. Children were born not of blood or the will but of the father’s heart. A tree reached to heaven; its foliage beautiful, abundant. Animals under it. Birds in its branches. Heaven cried, “Cut the tree. Chop its branches. Strip its foliage. The sun shall strike by day, the moon by night.” Going out and coming in, worry about what you will eat, what you will drink. Worry about the lilies, about the grass thrown into the oven. Worry about God, about will. Worry about tomorrow. Worry about your slumber, your keeper, your right hand. The animals pass over. Who will keep your life? Alison Stone

About the Author

Alison Stone

Nyack, United States

" Alison Stone is the author of nine full-length collections, Informed (NYQ Books, 2024), To See What Rises (CW Books, 2023), Zombies at the Disco (Jacar Press, 2020), Caught in the Myth (NYQ Books, 2019), Dazzle (Jacar Press, 2017), Masterplan, a book of collaborative poems with Eric Greinke (Presa Press, 2018), Ordinary Magic, (NYQ Books, 2016), Dangerous Enough (Presa Press 2014), and They Sing at Midnight, which won the 2003 Many Mountains Moving Poetry Award; as well as three chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Barrow Street, Poet Lore, and many other journals and anthologies. She has been awarded Poetry’s Frederick Bock Prize, New York Quarterly’s Madeline Sadin Award, and The Lyric’s Lyric Poetry Prize and Leslie Mellichamp Prize. She was Writer in Residence at LitSpace St. Pete. She is also a painter and the creator of The Stone Tarot. A licensed psychotherapist, she has private practices in NYC and Nyack. https://alisonstone.info/ Youtube and TikTok – Alison Stone Poetry. "

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"Poem with Erasures from the Bible"

Alison Stone