NO is a stop sign, end of the sentence
can knock your feet out from under you.
a completion, the final door bolted loudly.
MAYBE is a pause for creativity, a moment of
iridescent bubble hanging in the air
an opening to where all grows wild and free.
Either are available, both are useful
but one leaves you to face a single direction
while the other is a garden where roads are
not needed. You walk without a line to follow.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
I am grateful to Ann Kestner at Poetry Breakfast for sharing my poem today. If you have ever had a difficult time figuring out how to say something then you will probably relate to this poem.
Borrowed Flight – A Poem by Ali Grimshaw (click here to read)
Poetry Breakfast serves up a poem each morning to go with your coffee or tea. If you haven’t checked out this site then give it a try. It is a great way to start your day.
Where do you go after
you’ve swept up a dusty decade?
Voices of memories, dialogues of decisions
glinting pieces of effort,
shambled shards of mixed failures and gritty grains
of overcoming the odds. The minutes after
the disposal of what was,
a pause before, you’ve put away the broom.
Clean floor, the past no longer felt
between your toes.
A love note to my mother. In appreciation of the love mothers give every day.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
hold spontaneity in one hand
hold courage in the other
after hesitation kisses you goodbye
jump into your future
let possibility
fully fill your lungs
float untethered, without
holding your breath
until the shore
disrobes the fog
then swim with the passion
of another year
you never thought
you would have.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
d’Verse Poets Pub – Theories of Everything
The photo was taken in Portland, Oregon – Inspiring quote by Brene Brown
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
THE SOUL BOX PROJECT is a national community art project calling for the making of one hand-folded paper box to represent every person killed or injured by gunfire in the U.S. since 2014. Hundreds of thousands of these Boxes will be displayed together in massive art installations to reveal the staggering number of gunfire victims.
If you are near Portland, Oregon you can fold boxes on the second Wednesdays of the month from 4 – 6:30 pm at the THE CENTER FOR SPIRITUAL WELLBEING, 7100 SW HAMPTON ST SUITE 126 PORTLAND, OR 97223
Find out more at SoulBoxProject.org
“The point is, art never stopped a war and never got anybody a job. That was never its function. Art cannot change events. But it can change people… because people are changed by art – enriched, ennobled, encouraged – they then act in a way that may affect the course of events… by the way they vote, they behave, the way they think.” – Leonard Bernstein
Shadowed understory no longer needed
sprout through old layers of indecision
boldly bolt toward sunlight to come.
Regardless of broken branches,
depleted soil from years
of growing the same crops.
Angle for full height, extension
of reach, beyond what is
expected of your species.
Grow yourself beyond
the gardens of your past
self.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
Open Link Night – d’Verse Poets Pub
Never preoccupied by screens screaming
unknown friends, nor business buzzing heads.
Mine sit in wait, pocket ready, stacked bedside,
cursive faded on the bathroom mirror. Ever-ready
to ask courageous questions, with reassuring palms
warmly press down on my shoulders. They lead
remind from behind, cocoon me from nightmare bombs
and disappearing green, when my inside raisins.
Trustworthy friends of ink, folded and unfolded
because the need is so great.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
Poem in Your Pocket Day 2019 is on April 18 and is part of National Poetry Month. On this day, select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, street corners, and on social media using the hashtag #pocketpoem.
An inner dissection
sections of her heart
thinly unlayered, to find
the magnificence of awe
that used to be part of her.
Faded peak moments mapped
on her skin. Elevations reached
and fallen from while yearning
changed her topography.
Thoughts of who
she could become, still
a proposed expedition.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2019
Can you be
with your own silence?
Walking with yourself
wherever you go
naked
or clothed in words
that warm
or weigh you down.
Will you mirror
a friendly listener
hear your own voice
gently?
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
Shadows in Kauai, Hawaii 2018
Today’s challenge is to write a poem that ends with a question. This poem was inspired by a fellow blogger, Pragalbha’s post. Thank you for the inspiration. I wrote this after reading her words today, “Being With Myself”
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 