Author: Ali Grimshaw

Squeeze

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 11 Comments

What is the point of this adrenaline

if not to catch a falling baby,

escape from a lion or revive a drowning man?

Where can all of this feeling go?  I want a place for it.

A drawer, a box, a shelf, a treasure chest, the trunk of a car

maybe an large envelope to mail it far away.

Away from me. Where I am not the one.

Draw another name from the hat, surely she is stronger.

How am I to hold this prickling, burning weight,

vibrational surge, flaming fingertips?

Pressure builds until this little teapot

blows her steam.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

 

Snapshot

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 7 Comments

image

You look but don’t see

me. Within your view

invisible to your eyes.

 

Discomfort or unconscious

choice. I cannot be a character

in the story of your world.

 

Revisit the snapshot

years later, silhouetted,

my image lives.

 

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

Photo taken in Lucca, Italy 2016.

Photo challenge Transient

 

 

 

Lessons

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 12 Comments

 

How do you capture

a lifetime of fatherhood

put it down on the page?

 

Your voice in times of doubt

your hand on my shoulder

your cup always half full.

 

Yet, it wasn’t what you said

year after year that I remember most

you stood beside

you held up others

you lead with love.

 

You showed me.

 

Dedicated to my dearly loved father, Thomas Jenkins, who has fathered many over the years as an educator and coach. No words will ever be enough to tell you how much I love you.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

Dialogue

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 7 Comments

IMG_5511

Random thoughts collect in her hair.

Ideas shed by passers by

printed in fonts, large and small

nestled in her curls.

Within the crowd ideas conflict

like a crash of cymbals.

She swallows them all

continues to shift the molecules

search for a new formula

that makes sense.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

 

Taking Flight – Graduation Day

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 6 Comments

Transitions are in the air… some are leaving the nest for flight. Sending this out for all who are celebrating graduations. Your heart may feel full to bursting as your traverse this new road.

Ali Grimshaw's avatarflashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw

As he walks away,

the unknown grows inside me,

a tightness inside my chest.

His graduation is a forced exhale and I

breathe in the flight to come.

It was an illusion that he was ever mine,

from the start. He never belonged to me.

I was always ever the warm nest

from which he would someday fly.

© Alicia Grimshaw

Dedicated to all of the parents of graduates.  Yes, part of your heart is stepping out into the world to touch the lives of others. Let it go. Part of it will stay with you forever. What a privilege to experience this amazing journey of expanding love. Congratulations.

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Doubt

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 13 Comments

Why?

One word with the power to

kick my brain from the inside.

Why did I pick this?

Why is it important to me?

Without this one word question

procrastination can run amok.

Why does finishing this matter?

Will anyone care?

Is it worth it?

I am just one

among billions.

Just plain old me.

What if I don’t?

What will be lost?

Will I cease to exist?

The why of

is always

the essential.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2017

Inspired by Nikki’s post titled “Doubts and Dreams” –  Flying Through Water

 

 

What is Left of You

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 12 Comments

I am resharing this poem in honor of all the parents attending graduations this month. Congratulations. New adventures await.

Ali Grimshaw's avatarflashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw

The running shoes you left behind
positioned like you evaporated from them
angled as if deserted mid-step
have me wondering
were you ready
to move on to an unknown life

stuffing skills and memories in a backpack
experiences overflowing from unzipped pockets
your back receding into the distance
I have learned the answer to
Are you ever ready?

© Ali Grimshaw

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