Author: Ali Grimshaw

Poems from the Circle

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 1 Comment 
To Know You by Kelley Morris

Oh, that I would not
Miss the chance
To know you
Past your likes
Past your dislikes
The chance
To offer time
As a gift for us both-
After all, that is
The only way
We truly connect
Occupying
The same space
In the physical
In the technological
Either has the ability
To spark the same magic
Oh, that I would not
Miss the chance
To know you
Due to the foolishness
Of a word
Such as busy-
Is there really such a thing, anyway?

I am grateful for Kelley's permission to share her poem from a recent writing circle. You can find more of her poems here, pianogirlthoughts.com. Kelley lives in Oklahoma, I in Oregon. I never would have had the chance to know her if she hadn't joined a writing circle. It has been an amazing to write with her across the many miles, hear her experiences and find connection with someone who started out as a stranger and now is a friend.

I continue to meet big-hearted humans across different time zones. Writing together provides a mirror for us to process life in a place where we have all agreed to listen with compassion. Come join us for a writing circle. No experience needed. All voices are welcome.

Photo taken November 2021, Bozeman, Montana.

Fragments of Joy – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 12 Comments 
Awe is the wisdom of sweet
sticky handed laughter.
Let loose to tumble through
doorways of my day.

Eyes of wonderful, cherishing
new gleam on faces found.

Mystery of how 
this connects to that
which we would have never 
guessed was related.

Unexpected sparkles 
in the corner.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft - Join us at dVerse HERE

Briefly – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 27 Comments
Fallen Leaf Art by Nikola Faller in Osijek, Croatia – More inspiring photos HERE
Briefly

Stages and ages of crimson edges
crisp rounds, centers of golden.

Veins will remain long after the delicate 
sections have disassembled themselves
to join the soil for another cycle. 

These elders don't fight seasonal changes.
Through the quiet and loud
or bend and wave of storm
they receive while sheltering seedings below

forever willing to show their nakeness 
in the darkest of times.
With empty arms
while full of life within.

Their offerings a mosaic
of temorary color.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Join us on dVerse Poet's Pub for Open Link Night - HERE

With Appreciation

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 15 Comments

I can’t imagine my life without poetry. How many times has a poem shifted my thinking, invited my tears of release, or shined a light on the awe of being alive? Each poem is an invitation to slow down. Without them what could I have missed? Therefore, I am grateful to others who promote poetry and for each poet brave enough to share.

Thank you to Susi Blocks for nominating one of my poems from The Short of It for The Pushcart Prize I am one of six to be nominated by her. My poem, Thunderstorm Conversations can be read on Susi’s blog, I Write Her. If you’d like to be featured on The Short of It, click here for the submissions guidelines.

Thank you to the poems, let’s keep making space for them to arrive.

Ali

Sustaining – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 47 Comments 
As the virus
careens
spinning down
our long road.

The dust has yet
to settle
from the wheels.

Slow motion 
particles fall
as we sift silently
through glittered 
remembering.

Was that last month
or yesterday?

As I am here
reaching
you are there
still
only through airwaves

and yet I hear
your love.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Join us at dVerse Poets' Pub for
Open Link Night HERE

Delicious – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 25 Comments 

What happiness can arrive
when sunlight's retreat paints

leaves cherry crush, berry swirl
butterscotch eye candy

walking through an ordinary Monday
your hand in mine, we breathe the awe
 
street lined masterpieces
colored by a lack of chlorophyll

less of something  
created more today

© Ali Grimshaw 2020

Another yummy tree in my Portland, Oregon neighborhood.

Let Fall Catch You – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 29 Comments 
Painted leaves sing in unison
Unlike music, their song
is soundless harmony.

This orchestra of glow
soothes the tempo
of an internal pounding

from a day of instruments
that refused to play
the same song.

Fall catches you
with muted volume
a serenade of equilibrium

let the blushing colors 
sing you home.

© Alicia Grimshaw (rewrite of 2018 poem)

Together – Poem By Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 41 Comments 
tasting sadness on your skin
I lean into the space between

your peach-warm cheeks glow
while shadow-stones play
on Autumn's windowshade
 
head to heartbeat 
I hold you to my chest
feel a shift to calm

a small sigh from your lips
warmly weighted 

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Join us at dVers Poets’ Pub for a Quadrille HERE

Her Dance – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 23 Comments
Photo by Jeff Rayner, Side-Walking on Air
"Remember your dance?
The young girl inside me
calls out, 
"Remember?"

Dad told me how, as a baby,
I sat on the floor rocking side to side,
just smiling.

Later I was known to start the day 
with only one shoe
my frustrated mother shaking her head
while the school bus left me behind again.

I was a girl who thrived
climbing trees, running through woods
I wasn't hyperactive, just a mover.
Running brought temporary relief.

The only dancing I knew growing up  
drill teams of painted girls, 
performance dancers
that wasn't me.

Finding social dancing in my 20's 
was like a drug. 
Swinging partners in dancehalls
escaping thoughts I didn't know how to turn off. 
Anxiety, the never ending loop of ideas. 
I found myself in the music. 
I floated free. 

It is never too late 
to turn the music on
find your sway, sashay 
surrender to internal movement 

Your body has not forgotten.
Your brain has many incredible ideas 
but your heart is the one who knows
how to dance with the world.

Listen inward
find the place 
where your freedom
resides.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

“When Gillian was 8 years old, her hyperactivity — which earned her the nickname Wriggle-Bottom — led her mother to take her to a family doctor. While he examined Gillian, the doctor put on some music and asked Mrs. Pyrke to leave the room with him. “Out they went and the minute they had gone I started to dance to the music, even going up on his desk,” Ms. Lynne wrote in her autobiography, “A Dancer in Wartime” (2012). “What I hadn’t noticed was that his door was one of those beautiful old glass ones with etched designs through which the doctor and my mother were watching.” As they observed Gillian dancing with abandon, she recalled, the doctor said: “There is no trouble with this child, Mrs. Pyrke. She is a natural dancer — you must take her to dance class.” – Gillian Lynne, Choreographer of ‘Cats,’ Is Dead at 92 from The New York Times

Join Open Link Night on dVerse Poets Pub HERE

Ambling – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 60 Comments 
Let's linger in the Autumn glow
dusk is on its way

to cloak us with comfort
ease our worries loose
to fall.

Pausing here 
we become one with this 
seasonal scene of hush

before continuing our saunter
harvesting what matters most
from this day.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Join us on dVerse for Quadrille Monday HERE

Photo take in Portland, Oregon 2020. View of the Willamette River.