Hopeful Intention

December 12, 2019 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 52 Comments

What do you hold onto
when the bottom drops out
leaving you foundationless?

Your roof carried away by a tornado.
Left only with blankness and a pen
you forgot was in your hand.

I draw myself a new house
openness of windows, tin roof to hear rain
a welcome door without requirements

with the hope that you feel safe enough to visit
uncensored, just as you are not
when you leave the premises

“Active Hope is a practice.

Since Active Hope doesn’t require our optimism, we can apply it even in areas where we feel hopeless. The guiding impetus is intention; we choose what we aim to bring about, act for, or express. Rather than weighing our chances and proceeding only when we feel hopeful, we focus on our intention and let it be our guide.”

– Joanna Macy, respected voice in the movements for peace, justice, and ecology.

dVerse – Open Link Night

Tomorrow – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

October 20, 2019 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 13 Comments

We can not walk

without placing our

feet upon a past life.

Leaves layered, give

way to decay

to nourish the next.

What ground can I

cultivate with shelter

for those neglected seeds

that are tomorrow’s hope?

Slightly to the right – poem by Ali Grimshaw

December 17, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 27 Comments

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One step to the right

not a stretch, just a nudge

shift of weight to the side.

One step away, between

worry and what if?

Landscape of exhaustion

or a horizon of possibility.

Not a marathon, nothing to train for,

just one

small

step.

Get your shoes on.

wonder is waiting.

Resharing one the most liked posts from this year.

Sending the light of hope your way.

Fall Will Catch You – a poem by Ali Grimshaw

September 23, 2018October 12, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 28 Comments

Painted leaves sing in unison
Unlike music, their song
is soundless harmony.

This orchestra of color
soothes the tempo
an internal pounding

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

Fall catches me
with muted volume
a serenade of equilibrium.

If Poets Ruled The World

September 22, 2018December 7, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 28 Comments

If you brought poetry to your exhale

how would you breathe?

If you brought poetry to your cooking

how would it taste?

If you brought poetry to your singing

how would it sound?

If we brought poetry to the conversation

what would we hear?

Would we notice the moan of wind outside our arguments

that the water from the pipes is at a trickle, our absent neighbors

don’t stand in the front yard anymore, weeds thrive

overtaking the edible garden, while last year’s birdhouse

remains empty? A muffled fear

like cotton balls in our ears.

If I lived poetry

could I see the heart

underneath your skin?

“Poetry, whether the writing itself is explicitly political or not, always seeks a better way to respond, to think, to live.” – E. Ce Miller, writer, journalist

Sharing this great quote from Moorezart

If I only could, I would

September 9, 2018September 7, 2025 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 18 Comments

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if I could hand out

flying with clouds, beyond pain,

relief your eyes seek

Right by your side

August 25, 2018August 24, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 13 Comments

you beside, never

behind, together we face

forward fearlessly.

CWW Photo Challenge

Senryu

The Gift of Chaos

Quote ~ July 21, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 11 Comments

Enlight22

With all that is currently happening in the U.S. and the world, I feel the need to reshare this poem, Visiting With Chaos.There is an opportunity in the messiness of life. Will we choose to be loving learners or give up to fear?

Thank you to Vita Brevis, The Modern Poetry Magazine for publishing my poem. Click on the link to read it. – Visiting With Chaos

Sending love and a reminder that you are not alone.

Ali

Option – a thing that is or may be chosen

July 15, 2018July 21, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 28 Comments

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What if you believed it would all work out?

Would your breath come with ease
would you giggle at yourself, delight in the breeze
raise your waving hand, yell out “me too,”
with the aliveness of your five year old self?

Would you skip across the parking lot
dressed in sequins, colors that say, “I have arrived.”
Would you walk long enough to greet the dusk
stepping lightly until it kissed the sky goodnight?

What if you did?