dVerse Open Link Night – Connect with a wonderful community of poets
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Heartbeat – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
"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
Poems from the Circle
My dream is to create a safe space for you to explore the words that live inside you. Holding this listening space is one of the times I feel most alive. Our lives are enriched by reflectively listening to ourselves and others. It takes courage to reveal yourself and it is worth it.
Louise Gallagher is yet another amazing human that I wouldn’t have met without her taking a chance to share in the circle. Thank you, Louise, for your permission to share your artful poem here. It has been a gift to hear your words arrive and observe them unfurling over the past several weeks. Louise is a creativity activist, visual story-teller, mixed-media artist, writer, mentor, coach. You can find more of her poetry and beautiful creations at dareboldly.com
Writing together provides a mirror for us to process life in a safe place. Click here for information about my next Sunday writing circle.
Check the correct box – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
How we name ourselves keeps us separate, collected or behind fences. What if we lost all labels to the wind? Started over with a single hello. Here is a new and rare being a species my brain cannot categorize outside of any box, never encountered right before my own human eyes. How wonder would fill me with the awe of you. © Ali Grimshaw 2021 dVerse - Poetics:Connections A wonderful community of writers reside on dVerse Poets Pub. Come join in the fun. Photo of mural taken in Auray, France. 2019
Consider – A Poem for MLK Day – By Ali Grimshaw
Some say, Who am I? I need to find myself. I have lost myself. Some ask, How do I go on? How do I begin again? What matters now? There are those who are living as question marks and those who refuse punctuation. When your heart burns away, is cracked to irreparable or crushed to stillness is that the end or the beginning of learning to love? © Ali Grimshaw 2021 Three quotes from a man who left this world too early, Martin Luther King J. May we remember his words.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'”
“At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.”
This is not a pair of shoes
This dancing couple has grace swinging and swirling across the floor while never leaving each other's side. One with a worn toe from accenting turns The other steady centered, to spin in balanced pleasure. I long to slip into their magical trance it has been a long while since they have been out on a date. As I pull them from the closet I smile with the miles of songs we traveled together. Both have matched many steps to anxious cold handed partners tentative hesitance of beginners ease of familiar firm arms. This pair is a portal to playfulness open to all ages, they remain timeless in their relationship. A long lasting love story between them to be lived again and again until their soles have worn away. © Ali Grimshaw 2021 Come join the fun on dVerse with Poetics: Object Poems Dedicated to all my social dancing friends and anyone who is missing the joy of dancing together.
Sifting – Poem By Ali Grimshaw
Palms upward as hands face sky open spaces between fingers relaxing into what has been a time of gentle and harsh scrubbing of the heart. Every inch of skin Brillo pad raw. An exfoliation of what has been. My fists, no longer clenched in tight survival, trust in slow unfurling. Pain tingling as blood returns to fingertips. Learning feet reground my trunk to an upright position, toes rooted past sand into bedrock. Freeing now agile hands to sift through the helpful lessons caught in my soft palms as promises while unneeded thoughts fall through finger spaces to join other decomposing conversations of days when I didn't know listening. Composting the no longer serviceable into nutrients for the new words to come. © Ali Grimshaw 2021
Poems from the Circle
Curious I knew I was not up to it this thing called life. I was as if nameless not seen and without countenance or provenance And so from the beginning I have been curious with what I could be even who I could be. It’s been a road. But what a delight finding out. What blissful joy to discover the secrets of oneself. To see the patchwork patterns revealed. Even moments of brilliance. I look on with wonder and I ponder where do you suppose all that life came from? By Lilli Ann Carey
I am grateful for Lilli Ann's permission to share her poem from a recent writing circle. Writing together provides a mirror for us to process life in a safe place. Curious about writing yourself forward as 2021 unfolds? Email met at coaching@aligrimshaw.com
Rooted – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
“Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet / confinement of your aloneness / to learn / anything or anyone / that does not bring you alive / is too small for you.” – David Whyte
tug and pull, I must
still it doesn’t fit anymore
not after this year
hundreds of breaths have past
in between arrivals and goodbyes
and I am changed
now I have new thoughts
I pull on like the wool sweater
you used to wear on your
most difficult of days.
Thoughts that have rooted
myself to you
intertwined with the me
I have yet to meet.
© Ali Grimshaw 2021 dVerse Open Link Night - Join a friendly community of poets.
Happy New Year!
Wishing you deep full breaths of peace.
Blindsighted – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
As we stand together the ocean’s roar a comfort lullaby of constant. You squeeze my hand. I echo the motion in return. Reliable rolling waves, we count on when the world is crashing. © Ali Grimshaw 2017
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 