Just now – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw 
Now as I remove it, I lay it down. It leans back on the bed relaxing into a stretch my stiff body is unable to replicate. It has protected me from the virus all day and expects to have some time off. I breathe in, stretch, and begin to wonder how many words it has caught in the past few months? Words I thought to express but didn't. I hesitate often with thought, with care for myself and others. I don't speak as quickly as I used to. It is not for lack of valuing my voice. It is that the past months have shifted me. In the last year I have wondered more than ever how my words will be heard and where they might land. 

Looking down now. I realize how often I redirected sentences into my mask instead of sending them. I see so many captured. There are layers of phrases. More than yesterday. Some scribbled from speaking to myself, some barely readable as they were spoken in a whisper under my breath. They are massed together. Jumbled softly in the woven fabric, an unusual relic. Is it worth saving? Is it worth deciphering these undelivered words? What could I learn if I used a magnifying glass to dig backward? 


revisit the past
there is wisdom in Spring rain
see today's blossoms

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Napowrimo 2021

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40 thoughts on “Just now – Poem by Ali Grimshaw”

  1. This is very thought provoking and so true, Ali. When I think how often I would smile or talk to strangers in a store or on the street, now everyone just hurries by and looks the other way. I want to talk to people face to face again.

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  2. This made me think about all the communication we have lost since the pandemic. If it has made us more thoughtful and reflective, that is a plus. The haibun is hopeful and I know there is always a rainbow in the clouds! 🌈

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  6. Ali, I’ve been reflecting on this for the last day. The words and the image were both metaphorical and profound for me. I was taken to places in the past and recently when I kept my words quiet…rather then with compassion, saying what I felt I wished to say.

    Thank you. The image will remain with me as a visual reminder of the capture (shutting down) of the feelings in the words that weren’t spoken.

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    1. Carrie,
      I appreciate your reflection. What you have shared speaks to me. So many times I have kept my words to myself when maybe the best thing I could have done was say them out loud.
      I will never know what could have happened but I am trusting my heartwisdom to speak up in the future.
      Take care my friend.

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  9. What an interesting take on a face mask! I loved it…sometimes the words we repress are best left unsaid, but others may have deserved to be spoken. Wouldn’t it be great if we could go back and sort through them, figuring out which is which?

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    1. Great to hear from you, Miriam. There is still so much to process from the past year and I find poetry to be a wonderful way to reflect. I am well and gratefully so.
      Sending wishes of wellness your way.
      Ali

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