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.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
National Relaxation Day
© Ali Grimshaw
Portugal 2017
line straight as the horizon, faintly blue as sky meets sea
each edge, finger-width apart, to contain the message
my words lay cushioned by these guiding layers
some smeared by effort of my own hand
it was not by accident that I wrote to you
between the lines and not on them.
our relationship never occupied spaces
defined by rules of in or out.
© Ali Grimshaw (revised version of 2016 poem)
Rise/Set – Morning in Maui with my sweetheart observing the sea.
Upright they stand
(weathered and disregarded)
thinking themselves powerful.
Vulnerable to elements and eyes
yet never losing their dignity.
It is clarity of purpose that
leaves them self assured
while the landscape
is transformed around them.
They will forever remain
side by side, dependable
a community of stone.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Portugal 2017
Please return the glass bowl
the one with the orange lid.
Surely it is empty now, alone
on the shelf or behind the rice jar.
It is not that I am in need,
I just found myself thinking
of its emptiness, a hollow of cold.
Loneliness I wish to fill with warmth of soup.
One spoon of comfort at a time
to refill yourself
on Tuesday night
after the day’s work is done.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
The need that will not stop
the need to create for ourselves
speak with our hands
scribble with our minds.
Make, shape, build
add colors from inside.
Be
bolder than
we trust ourselves to be.
We share wisps of tender fear
kept hidden from view
like a shield of insecurity
tucked behind the ear.
Wary of those that come
with a look unfamiliar.
Remember
the power of the
impermanent paint
to include.
Lines drawn
to dare a crossing
or
to encircle all.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
Street art – Lisbon, Portugal
You may believe that I am with you
facing the sea side by side.
Yet I am hidden away
oceans from this place,
traveling without a suitcase.
My vessel left behind.
I don’t need a ship to carry me
to the places I am visiting.
© Ali Grimshaw
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 