Author: Ali Grimshaw

Poems from the Circle

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 13 Comments
Louise Gallagher – Dareboldly.com

My dream is to create a safe space for you to explore the words that live inside you. Holding this listening space is one of the times I feel most alive. Our lives are enriched by reflectively listening to ourselves and others. It takes courage to reveal yourself and it is worth it.

Louise Gallagher is yet another amazing human that I wouldn’t have met without her taking a chance to share in the circle. Thank you, Louise, for your permission to share your artful poem here. It has been a gift to hear your words arrive and observe them unfurling over the past several weeks. Louise is a creativity activist, visual story-teller, mixed-media artist, writer, mentor, coach. You can find more of her poetry and beautiful creations at dareboldly.com

Writing together provides a mirror for us to process life in a safe place. Click here for information about my next Sunday writing circle.

Bashful – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 60 Comments 
a slight alteration
not a full smile
where teeth reveal themselves

just a curled corner of lips lift
your cheek rising upward
winking your eye

those unfamiliar to your face
wouldn't notice the half-smirk
so quickly retreating behind
the coffee mug

 but I saw it as real as sunrise
 and I don't need more
 to know you felt
 joy today

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

dVerse Open Link Night - Come join the fun.

Check the correct box – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 29 Comments 
How we name ourselves keeps us 
separate, collected or behind fences.

What if we lost all labels to the wind?
Started over with a single hello. 

Here is a new and rare being
a species my brain cannot categorize

outside of any box, never encountered 
right before my own human eyes.

How wonder would fill me
with the awe of you.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

dVerse - Poetics:Connections 
A wonderful community of writers reside on dVerse Poets Pub. Come join in the fun.

Photo of mural taken in Auray, France. 2019

Consider – A Poem for MLK Day – By Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 34 Comments 
Some say, Who am I?
I need to find myself.
I have lost myself.

Some ask, How do I go on?
How do I begin again?
What matters now? 

There are those who 
are living as question marks
and those who refuse punctuation.                 

When your heart burns away,
is cracked to irreparable
or crushed to stillness

is that the end or 
the beginning 
of learning to love?

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Three quotes from a man who left this world too early, Martin Luther King J. May we remember his words.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'”

“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”

This is not a pair of shoes

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 31 Comments 
This dancing couple has grace
swinging and swirling across the floor
while never leaving each other's side.

One with a worn toe from accenting turns
The other steady centered,
to spin in balanced pleasure.

I long to slip into their magical trance 
it has been a long while
since they have been out on a date.

As I pull them from the closet
I smile with the miles of songs
we traveled together.

Both have matched many steps 
to anxious cold handed partners 
tentative hesitance of beginners
ease of familiar firm arms.

This pair is a portal to playfulness
open to all ages, they remain 
timeless in their relationship.

A long lasting love story between them
to be lived again and again
until their soles have worn away.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Come join the fun on dVerse with Poetics: Object Poems

Dedicated to all my social dancing friends and anyone who is missing the joy of dancing together.

Sifting – Poem By Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 18 Comments 
Palms upward as hands face sky 
open spaces between fingers relaxing
into what has been a time of gentle 
and harsh scrubbing of the heart. 
Every inch of skin Brillo pad raw. 
An exfoliation of what has been. 
My fists, no longer clenched 
in tight survival, trust in slow unfurling.
Pain tingling as blood returns to fingertips.
Learning feet reground my trunk 
to an upright position, toes rooted 
past sand into bedrock. Freeing now
agile hands to sift through the helpful lessons 
caught in my soft palms as promises
while unneeded thoughts fall through finger spaces
to join other decomposing conversations 
of days when I didn't know listening.
Composting the no longer serviceable
into nutrients for the new words to come.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

Renewal Through Writing

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 10 Comments

Coming together, across great distance to cherish poems and write together is hope in action. It is my heart work to facilitate a safe space to hear your inner voice and experience authentic connect. Wherever you live I would love to meet you. No writing experience needed. All voices welcome.

Renewal Through Poetry: Writing Circle Sundays

Register on Eventbrite

Poems from the Circle

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 7 Comments 
Curious

I knew I was not up to it
this thing called life.
I was as if nameless
not seen and without 
countenance or provenance
And so from the beginning
I have been curious
with what I could be
even who I could be.
It’s been a road.
But what a delight 
finding out.
What blissful joy
to discover the secrets of oneself.
To see the patchwork 
patterns revealed.
Even moments of brilliance.
I look on with wonder
and I ponder 
where do you suppose
all that life came from?

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. 
Curious about writing yourself forward as 2021 unfolds?
Email met at coaching@aligrimshaw.com

Rooted – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 54 Comments

“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet / confinement of your aloneness / to learn / anything or anyone / that does not bring you alive / is too small for you.” – David Whyte

tug and pull, I must

still it doesn’t fit anymore

not after this year

hundreds of breaths have past

in between arrivals and goodbyes

and I am changed

now I have new thoughts

I pull on like the wool sweater

you used to wear on your

most difficult of days.

Thoughts that have rooted

myself to you

intertwined with the me

I have yet to meet.

© Ali Grimshaw 2021

dVerse Open Link Night - Join a friendly community of poets.

Happy New Year!

Wishing you deep full breaths of peace.

Blindsighted – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 28 Comments 
As we stand together
the ocean’s roar a comfort
lullaby of constant.

You squeeze 
my hand. I echo
the motion in return.

Reliable rolling waves,
we count on
when the world is crashing.

© Ali Grimshaw 2017