Let’s Get Lost in a Poem – Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw 
Poetry is truth in a universal language able to cross boundaries and reach the human heart. It is through our practice of listening deeply to poems, to ourselves and each other that the joy of connection is created within the writing circle. I am honored to hold space for your words and invite you to welcome them to the page. Let's get lost together as we write and reflect. Join me for an upcoming writing circle. Fill your heart. 

Let's get lost 
in beauty of the waves.
Put the needle on the record
of this day,
live simply so others may
simply live
to delight in all good things
wild and free.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

20 thoughts on “Let’s Get Lost in a Poem – Ali Grimshaw”

  1. Beautiful words and beautiful phot, Ali 🙂 Poetry was born out of the basic human desire to communicate; not only meaning but feelings, and that’s why I am glad to hear you are enjoying your writing circles. Aiva 🙂

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  7. Ali, I have absolutely loved and cherished and appreciated your writing circles. Not just for the writing and sharing and listening and being present, but the community you build and the sense of connection and honouring I always experience when I’m in the circle.

    I also appreciate how, since joining my first circle back in October (was it really October? wow) I have continued to feel and hear and heed the muse’s voice calling me to awaken and write. I am so very grateful.

    I wrote the following on a site that I’m a member of today (it’s a ‘seeker’s site’ – on it, I travel amongst those who have left ‘the church’ – most of them are former Minister’s and I am one of the few non-theologians in the 100+ members. Like in your circle, I feel welcome, included and experience a deep sense of belonging which is so very nourishing)

    Here’s what I wrote – “I fell down a rabbit hole yesterday. But unlike Alice, I didn’t find myself in Wonderland. I found myself in that land of wondering, “Where is God in all of this?”
    My spiral started with a click from a news article in my feed. It lead me to the stats on Covid-19 in the US.
    I hadn’t really looked at the numbers in a while. Not since the inauguration before which I compulsively checked out the state of US affairs almost hourly.
    I’ve relaxed my vigilance since the change in leadership. As if one day’s turnover could right the ship.
    Yesterday showed me how naive I’ve been.
    Almost 500,000 deaths due to Covid. Yesterday, the number sat at 485,000. This morning, I just checked. 498,254 according to Worldmeters.info
    And my mind immediately leapt to the question, “Where is God?”
    Except, God isn’t the cause of the rising death toll.
    Nor is she/he/it the inspiration behind a virus that has cast a pall over the entire planet.
    And I struggle to understand it all. To comprehend ‘the why’ more than the what or how.
    Why leads me further away from solid ground into Alice’s Wonderland of strange and unusual occurrences.
    Why steals my peace of mind, just as the question “Where is God” robs me of being present in the moment.
    And so, instead of trying to answer the question I cannot fathom in all this tragedy and loss, I wrote a poem.
    Poetry brings me back to my centre. It brings me back to the here and now.
    I find God, the Creator, Allah, Jehovah, whatever name you use, in creative expression. I find the Divine essence of life in poetry.
    I do not know where God is in this pandemic. I worry he/she/it has taken a holiday and gone off to Mexico like so many public figures did over the holidays [a number of our elected officials ignored the edict to not travel over the Christmas holidays here in Canada It was rather distressing]. But then, I remember, God, the Creator, Allah, Jehovah, whatever name you use, doesn’t have to go anywhere. She/he/it is everywhere, in everything, of everything. Because no matter what is happening, where it is happening, how it is happening or even why it is happening, in the story of my life, God is Love and Love is always here, everywhere. Love is flowing. Love is. I am. It is, in the beginning, and the end, all I can hold onto.
    I fell down the rabbit hole of data yesterday and found myself writing it out in a poem.
    It didn’t answer my question, but then, it was never about the question. It was always about finding love in the most difficult of times.”
    I share this because, writing with you has freed me to explore the spaces beyond the known of my writing. That ethereal, ephemeral, mystic place where I dance fearlessly with the muse.

    thank you Ali for being you and for bringing so much beauty into this world. your writing circles are a gift.

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    1. Louise,
      I appreciate your openness and reflection. Holding space for your words is a gift I love to give. During 2020 I led most 60 writing circles with people across the U.S. and other countries. There is something powerful about writing and listening together over the 5 weeks that opens doors for all of us. It is not something easily found in our busy world.
      Stay warm and safe.
      Ali

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