love

Belief in Planting – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 21 Comments

“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” – John Muir

As I dug deeply down to tuck you in safely, one by one, in softness, grounded for growth with care and wishes for your survival. (Awareness of my lack of qualifications and experience crowded into the activity like a boisterous neighbor who wasn’t invited. “This won’t work. You don’t know what you’re doing.”)

As I put my shovel away, I am thinking about internal resistance. My resistance to planting, to bothering with placing all of you in the earth. My head saying, “You’re doing it wrong. You will be disappointed.” My heart replying, “Let’s try. I need to wonder.”

Now I am pondering, curious actually, what would it be like to live without a belief in planting. Realizing I already know. I have been there and don’t want to go back.

I am seeding a future I cannot see. I am planting hope in the dark cold of winter. This includes garlic cloves and my belief in loving action to grow the next. Stepping into the unknowable with a curious heart that knows it doesn’t always work out and planting it anyway.

Later that day I found three more cloves in my pocket. Three that escaped planting day. Their potential is not lost. I will find time to tuck them to bed too.

Cover them with leaves.

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

Thank you Stephanie Matlock for nurturing my inner farmer and gifting me garlic to plant. You are the Garlic Master! Cobblestone Farms, LLC.

Tide Tables of the Heart – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 17 Comments 

when I feel that nothing matters
I will name it despair

and when a wave comes
I find quiet like
wind on my face

with the passing of the wave through me
(realization like a form of sleep apnea)
my breath returns as a gasp of awareness

unfolding the letting go is part of the wave
the part that reminds me, I am the water too
fighting to keep myself afloat is unnecessary

all depths of love are still finding us
do not fear 

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

Here I stand on hope street keeping my hearthope alive.

Navigating Us – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 2 Comments 


Before I walk away,
returning to a new season of my life,
let’s rewind this journey 
for one last view. 
Our thrills, near misses,
and countless conversations melted together,
weaving me into the true color I have become. 
Wherever I am
is your home
to come back to.

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

Photo taken in a small town in Colorado. Humans create amazing spaces.

Cross My Fingers – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 16 Comments 


To see, feel, hold, wake 
determination cycles, knowing mistakes

enduring without audience
multi-stepped blossomed awareness
winging it

drenched ducks in a row
elation evaporation
mind marathons

love injects herself into the race

- all this comes after 
promising 

if your words are
tattooed as you

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

Join a welcoming community of poets
for today's prompt - promise. HERE.

Let there be no doubt – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 38 Comments

“Take bread away from me, if you wish, take air away, but
do not take from me your laughter.” – Pablo Neruda


Like rain on wildfire 
I am quenched by your voice.

I hadn't realized my shrunkenness
my dehydrated heart in wait.

Your laugh rippled across the crowd.
I could feel your presence of lightness in its cadence.

It is all the more precious to hear
knowing that life isn't easy for you.

Your laughter is like a defiant call
of the joy riding alongside the grief.

I feel it in my dancing bones
as I twirl toward your part of the floor.

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

This poem is dedicated to my friend, Valerie. Her laugh is steadfast and generous. It always makes my heart smile. Whose laugh lights up your day? I hope you will let them know. 

Join a welcoming group of poets at dVerse Poets' Pub for this poetics challenge. You can visit HERE.

Life is short, 
love big.

Ali




Observing – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 21 Comments 

And the rhythm continues, yellow round, orange round, red
tiny parts of bright aliveness making up the whole.
Are the boundaries holding us together or separating us by hue? 

Each is playing a part in the view. 
One beside the other, 
next two, in front of, beside. Are we leaning unequally
or holding each other up? 

How far would we need to back up 
before seeing the whole picture? Remember up close
never looks the same as from across the room. 

Squint your eyes a little. Now look again.

Notice how the colors grow toward midnight as it meets in the center. 
Could this be a reminder to see darkness as a place to rest 
maybe even a place of beauty 
instead of fighting our way to where we think we belong?

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

You are invited to dVerse Poets’ Pub to write something beautiful in response to this artwork by Alma Thomas, The Eclipse (1970). Join in the fun HERE. Thank you, Melissa, for getting me writing today. It felt like releasing a big sigh and the air returned to fill my lungs without effort.

Pause in the Produce – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 30 Comments 

Somewhere near the produce 
between the oranges and tumbling peppers 
a song, Ed Sheeran is singing
and the tears arrive, as I listen. 
(I don't usually cry in public but the emotion is undeniable.)
I am still as a river rock, while the shoppers flow around,
struck by hearing the words I couldn't hear before.
I let their message in 
feeling what you were trying to say. 
What I was unable to receive before.
I don't care that I am crying next to the bananas. 

It feels so good to be loved by you.
© Ali Grimshaw 2024

No Recording Exists – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 44 Comments 


a fantasy figment fell 
from the clouds

bounced off my head
into my heart

singing, I followed the
feeling of companionship

neighbors heard my song
dropped their projects
flung their phones
joined jubilance

parading down the street
we were something together

one gleeful song

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

Join a welcoming community of poets at dVerse Poets' Pub, HERE. Tonight's challenge - write a quadrille using the word figment.

Photo taken in Portland, Oregon. I am a fan of murals and always look for them when I travel.

She led me to… Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 40 Comments 

She led me to
the library, fed stories to my ears
taught me how to keep the family blood circulating
to pull my shoulders back, stand proud

she showed me laughter around the table
camping in cold rain, beauty beyond lipstick
the effective use of stubborn determination

she made a million meals without consideration
flowered apron ready dinners with a smile
Did she even enjoy cooking? 
I don't remember anyone asking her.

She washed clothes, replacing them in drawers
a revolving door of dirty to clean
just another behind the scenes devotion.

How much did we notice the way
she kept the boat afloat
watching for leaks while we slept.

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

This poem is in honor of my mother, grandmothers, and all the mothers in my family tree who made me who I am today. Thank you.

Happy Mother's Day

Join a welcoming community of poets
at dVerse Poets' Pub, HERE
for Open Link Night. Share one poem
of your choosing and read what other's
share.



LOVE in Capital Letters – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 16 Comments

“Human awe is an endangered species. Do not let your astonishment go extinct. Go wild for the wildness of your being.” – Andrea Gibson


how many days can you claim
bold aliveness

kindergarten eagerness
ignited intentions

bright contagiousness of
shared lifting

sky-filled unerasable strokes 
readable by all

baring yourself beautiful

with each word from your mouth
skinny-dipping freedom

because words of love
deserve all capitals
sing unification

undeniable

© Ali Grimshaw 2023

Photo taken in Portland, Oregon on my hike of "appreciating the flowering trees" this past weekend. They remind me to love big. I hope they inspire you to reach out to someone you have been missing.