“Beautiful things don’t ask for attention.” – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 2013 –
your arms around me encircled together heart to heart someday I will touch a photo this moment's embrace replaying this day until then I am noticing the feeling while I still have you near I am memorizing the shape of holding you holding me ©Ali Grimshaw 2021 Photo of my son and I on my birthday 2020. Poetics on dVerse Poets Pub - Come join the fun HERE.
a gathering of cells multiplying magnificent a seed inside breathing being and no one even knew that you had begun arriving, small magic happening inside the womb she went about her day hanging laundry in her quiet way while the message of you grew © Ali Grimshaw 2021 An early Mother's Day poem. Quadrille Monday on dVerse
you believe that saying the right thing will dissolve the pain, that you should know how to ascend the sunken afloat in powerlessness without the words to reach the aggrieved restore their hearts to harmony don’t be swallowed by your lacking the right words never have been what the grieving seek sufficient is whole face listening eyes intent to bridge being ears strong enough to hear without changing the subject and you can do that anyone can make that choice First published on VITA BREVIS PRESS 2018 For those are are grieving today. I send this to you with love.
"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.
He bought it used. It was heavy and solid like home. Soon he began to peel the layers away. It was painted antique green and underneath she remembered a layer of white, then bright orange. She was not sure what the the other colors were but it had been coated and recoated by many who had different preferences. He spent hours cleaning away paint brushed into the crevices and cracks. It was a labor of care to reach the wood grain underneath all of those years. She watched him work off and on knowing he would continue. He told her it would be hers but her doubt piled up with the days. Through the sanding and peeling of hours of evenings. It was taking a long time, so much time and more than he realized it would. After all of that scraping away to bring the beauty to light, she knew that it couldn’t be passed to another, even a daughter that he loved. It wouldn’t be hers now. Not because it was an antique piano, but because of the time it took him to bring it back to life. When he said, “Yes, of course it is yours.” She was surprised by the love of those hours. It remains with her today.
winter through window
gold sunlight gleams in wood grain
warming to the touch
©Ali Grimshaw 2021 Haibun Monday at dVerse - Join us.
By knowing you, I see myself in bloom now and 90 years wrinkled. My doubts don’t exist in your eyes. You see the chipped edges scars of failed attempts places worn raw as my earned beauty. You hold the rough abeyant curves of my puzzle like a treasure. You saw my essence of spirit gently holding it all up, a mirror before me, until I could see, for myself, who I am becoming. © Ali Grimshaw 2020 Eugi's Weekly Prompt - Romance
"Choosing to live and love with our whole hearts is an act of defiance. " - Brene Brown Join me for Galentine's Day, Write Yourself: Self-Love and Poetry Gathering Saturday, February 13. here - Eventbrite. (Tickets by donation) One of the many joys of facilitating writing circles is contributing to the journey of others and connecting women from across the globe. Renewal Through Poetry: Introductory Writing Circles February 21, 11:00 am PST register here - Eventbrite. "The circle is a very special part of my week. I am inspired by everyone, their thoughts, their writings, their words. I never come away without feeling something deeply or being profoundly touched. I am amazed at what comes out of the end of my pen." - Nancy
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.
