walking through fields of bright questions I pick whys and hows, bloom gold awes for consideration wonderment training © Ali Grimshaw 2021 A shadorma (a six-line, 26-syllable poem or stanza) for National Poetry/Global Poetry Writing Month - Day 7. Visit this site for prompts all month long, napowrimo Join me for my next writing circle. Self-Compassion Through Poetry: Writing Circle Tuesday, April 20, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM (PDT) Register here Photo taken in Munich, Germany 2019.
these blooms like candy cotton appetizing limbs of pink deliciousness always have been reliable unique for sugar coating the sadness of a regular day living blossoms I reach for true in their offering of layered light for satisfying the crave of weightlessness the yearning for lift Perhaps with forgiveness. Maybe with increased observation their magic will prevail. My scavenger hunt continues. © Ali Grimshaw 2021 Day 5 of National Poetry Click HERE for daily prompts Global Poetry Writing Month Today's challenge - to find a poem, and then write a new poem that has the shape of the original, and in which every line starts with the first letter of the corresponding line in the original poem. I chose Wet Spring as my jumping off place. This was a stretch that led to a wonderful escape. Wet Spring The practical castle is cold. All around it the world is a stream bed. A few well-placed openings under the windows let rain weep back outward. The rain is string for wrapping a package no one knows the inside of, they just keep trying to mail it. Perhaps it is licorice. Perhaps it is kindness. The package so large even wetness becomes an umbrella. by Jane Hirshfield
"Without poetry, we lose our way." - Joy Harjo the future of my day is coming from where yours has already taken a seat while I wake, you are closing the book to rest your head in a country covered by stars Here on this pondering path of forest synchronized with the slow passing of light this fern comnunity reaches toward many more than any one person can see and one of them is me a gathering of condolences for this time of separation, green fronds reach to surround me in a forest embrace our fiddlehead hearts, together while apart your voice sits with me, uncurling I am moss damp with missing you © Ali Grimshaw 2021 Join a welcome community of poets at dVerse for Open Link Night - HERE 30 Ways to Celebrate the 25th Annual National Poetry Month Day 3 of National Poetry & Global Poetry Writing Month
Your separation started with a small knot, then the winding began. Strings of storybooks, twined through nights and days of countless fresh starts, repeating circles. The looping of stories wound through our shared days. Up and down on the life school rollercoaster, back when I used to hold your hand. Our faces in the wind a side by side scream of surprise moments you reached out, adding to yourself adding another layer of becoming. While some saw mangled routes and loose ends I envied your brave expanding, overlapping leaps of curiosity to solidify your center. Now you roll down new streets with layers of perseverance over boyish charm a masterpiece touching lives I will never meet. I hope you never stop winding over that small knot, tied while I watched. © Ali Grimshaw 2021 This poem is dedicated to my two amazing sons. I am grateful to be your mother. dVerse Open Link Night - Join a welcoming community of poets HERE.
Where to Write From You might think that to be a poet you must have a way with words You can keep thinking that more room for me You might think you must reach way down in the weeds pulling out muddy roots from your sodden brain or recall in detail places of distinction You might think you must go heart searching to find phenomenal fodder for verse or have personal connections with the waves, the sun, the moon and the stars There are those who have done that But really you might be content to write frilly froth of fabled fellows Or maybe, just maybe you’ll surprise yourself, crawl down deep like an a spelunking explorer to places in yourself you haven’t been or yet even noticed By Lilli Ann Carey I am grateful for Lilli Ann's permission to share her poem from a recent writing circle. Writing together provides a mirror for us to process life in a safe place. Each of us has words that matter. Within the writing circle we nourish them. Curious? Email met at coaching@aligrimshaw.com
I love the Oregon Coast. This photo is from my most recent visit. It is often while walking down the beach that my mind travels off on inspirational tangents. I have been thinking a lot in the past year about the reasons that we give after something has happened. Those seeds grew into a poem. This poem, The Reasons, is up on Visual Verse where each month they supply a compelling image and invite writers – published or unpublished – to submit a piece in response. There are so many wonderful writings this month. I encourage you to head over there for some entertaining reading. Consider giving the writing challenge a try next month. Here's the link, Visual Verse Thank you to Visual Verse for sharing my voice.
What if I wrote what could not be spoken of words of depth, concise sentences of discomfort and truth, looped them together with my hand a signatured message unique, like my voice. Left on your desk, enclosed by the folded paper, to find tomorrow or in a haste of reorganizing, leaving you to wonder when it arrived. Would you recognize the writing or disregard then discard it as scrap, all while maintaining focus on achievements of a workplace that doesn't have time for cursive communication? ©Ali Grimshaw 2021 dVerse Open Link Night #288 - Join us.
Looking For My Wild Card
That’s no weakness ... That’s your wild card
From Kim Stafford’s poem “Advice From A Raindrop”
I do not think of myself as wild —
I am a peacemaker
But the hint that perhaps I have a wild card,
a side of me rarely displayed, waiting within
till needed — then ready to flash forward?
I savor that suggestion
and seek within, hoping to get acquainted
willing to adapt my peaceful approach
Might I become a mirror to others
that they see their own behavior as destructive
and pause to consider other options?
Or might I blend in, becoming part
of what had seemed contrary to my beliefs
only to discover therein new perspectives?
My wild card may seem pretty tame to others —
I may be the one most needing its nudges
©SJaeschke 2021
I am grateful for Jazz's permission to share her poem
from a recent writing circle. You can find more of her
poems here on her blog Steps and Pauses.
Writing together provides a mirror for us to process life.
I would be honored to hold space for your words to appear on the page.
Join me for the next gathering. No experience needed. All voices welcome.
Renewal Through Poetry: Introductory Writing Circle
March 28, 4:00 PM PST register here – Eventbrite
There are moments when what someone else has inked onto the page stops time for you when another's words absorb through your skin settling deep in your belly like a surprising crumb of nourishment you didn't know you needed. A small taste of harmony, blooming on your tongue. It opens a realizing that wasn't there before a long lasting hunger, you nibble through a second read then a third, taking your time to swallow it all. Remembering a desire for flavors that had been forgotten how good a poem could taste. ©Ali Grimshaw 2021 My poem is a response of gratitude for a poem I read today called Ice Cube on School of Blue Read the poem HERE. Thank you, Rick Frame, for the nourishment. My photo was taken near Amsterdam. A lovely, crisp morning of reflection where the sky and the water gave back to each other. LAPC #138 – Natural Light
ink them down scribble quickly draw from your cuts fly down this line and the next scrawl the clouds of confusion let them outside of your inside release the liquid of life swiftly, before you overthink then blow them all away like dandelion seeds ©Ali Grimshaw 2021 dVerse Quadrille - Come join the fun HERE.
