“some of us don’t want to be tough alpha leaders. some of us just want to write and wander the garden and breathe in the sky and nourish and nurture and quietly create new pathways and live our lives as art. to know the earth as poetry.” -victoria erickson, rhythms and rhymes
and so I seek those who are willing to show blooming and wilting, burnt edges and randomly exposed roots they are the ones the ones who know how to listen until the last days gleaning joy from what is ©Ali Grimshaw 2022
say what you find in the deep moss of your feet a lush immersion of aliveness long forgotten like leaves caressing your childhood cheek follow the movement of this forest vocabulary a language that you have yet to dance with are you willing to give yourself over to sit with the fallen nurse logs to listen for the tall evergreen guardians to days of foresttime absent from hours or minutes ticking filled instead by croaks, sways, gurgles music accessible to the practiced ear you will feel it coming a cooling shift of rainclouds the beginning of your roots being welcomed in ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 Join me on earthweal for open link weekend HERE
They don't need to be your favorite one. You don't need to justify them to anyone. One could arrive before getting out of bed or a memory that brings warmth. One could be a warm shower, the relief of crying or standing under a clear sky. One could be a deep breath, a complete filling of lungs or the priviledge of not know what time it is. A window to a neighbor who grow flowers or someone who listens when your words stumble. Birdsong mornings, soft landings of wooded paths freedom to choose, relief of laughter, steady rib bones to protect a still beating heart. There are always 3 good things if you choose them they are yours to hold. ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 During the first year of the pandemic I began to paint rocks that said, "3 good things." I left them randomly around my neighborhood as I walked and ran. My intention was to remind myself and those around me to think of "3 good things" in their day. I began to text friends and family asking them to share their "3 good things." Somewhere along the way I forgot about this action. I stopped doing it. Finding this photo today reminded me how simple and rewarding this was. And I am choosing to begin again. If you feel inspired please share your "3 good things" with me.
no one will ever know what you gave the number of times you've grown a new heart after donating the last one sit a spell with the map of your heartlife claim your mountains distance growth vistas tape more wilderness down you're still alive ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 Quadrille #154 "Casting a spell Come join a welcoming community of poets on d'Verse - HERE
Transitions are in the air... some are leaving the nest for flight. As you join the others a new word grows inside me, a tight bundled joypain sits within my chest cracking open to release the scent of baby powered damp hair for the many practiced days have passed the next migration is a solo flight. Your sturdy shoulders of readiness experimental charm accompanied with grin will be a gift many will appreciate. Your graduation to come is a forced exhale and I breathe in the flight to come. Shake off the illusion, you were never really mine from the start. You have always belonged to to the world. I was always ever the warm nest from which you would someday fly. ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 Join a welcoming community for Open Link Night at dVerse. HERE Dedicated to all 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.
“A river no more begins at its source
than a story begins with the first page.“
– Once Upon A River
I am honored to have two new poems included in the anthology Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women. This highly anticipated anthology, edited by Gabriela Marie Milton (Short Prose) and published by Ingrid Wilson (Experiments in Fiction), debuts in early June 2022. Thank you so much, Gabriela and Ingrid, for all your efforts to bring these poems of strength to the world. I am excited to hold them in my hands.
she didn't need to know how to pronounce the name of what grew before her delicately vivid she didn't need to understand how it pollinated or the temperatures it withstood last winter she didn't need to know why it arrived who brought it from afar or how it survived her eyes saw the magenta magnificence drank in the sweet joy of bloom in a cup tasted the miniture petals an elixer of revival ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 Join a friendly community of poets for Open Link Night at dVerse Poet's Pub HERE
"Nature does not hurry yet everything is accomplished." -Lao Tzu a flower can be a poem all by itself color replacing gray newsroom days each petal, lined hues of good news the glory of opening ourselves to live again ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 Covid finally caught me and I am learning how to accept it as an uninvited guest. Sending you wishes for wellness. Join me at earthweal this week: Lessons from the Wild Photo taken on one of my neighborhood walks.
1. Ease your body into a warm bath, stay long enough to forget why its ending and how time ever mattered. 2. Get your shovel plant your tears along with faith flower seeds for tomorrow's sky brightening. 3. Climb to the roof, listen for birds from a different perspective notice the variation in song brings clearer thoughts. 4. Wander while feeling solid ground, allow disappointment to flee your swinging arms until lightness of hope arrives. 5. Leave yourself behind the one that didn't believe your worth. Buy yourself colored pencils, new sneakers. ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 For the 18th day of Na/GloPoWriMo - “Five Answers to the Same Question.” Photo taken in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 