If you are wondering
doubting,
don’t give up. Stay.
Someone loves the light
only you can be.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
National Poetry Writers Month 2018 – Click to read more poems.
Uncategorized
Always Available 24/7
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, 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
This poem was inspired by the following quote from John Adams. “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket.”
Ars Poetica – d’Verse
National Poetry Month – Fall in love with a poet.
Photo by Pixabay free images.
Love Louder
Can two words be enough,
make a poem on their own
to shake the passers by awake.
Just a couple, woven into
the fabric of an ordinary day?
Please tell me they can.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018
Photo of a local high school fence, Oregon
My light is shining
Thank you Ghost City Review for publishing my poem, The Passing Judgement Of Those Walking By, this month. Ghost City Press is based in Syracuse, NY. Their goal is to provide a platform for the exhibition of work by new and emerging writers and artists in the online literary community. They publish writers who understand the complexities of the world we live in and who reflect this in their work.
We all have poetry inside us. How different the world would be if this were believed.
Make yours a day of wondrous words.
Ali
Your Numbers
What does it mean, the number you are?
Pounds or password, 23rd in line
before your turn, zip code, blood pressure,
days traveled before the car broke down
the years you have managed to escape,
stay alive or times you have kept your mouth shut.
Texting mishaps, trips to the store, loves lost.
You may think these numbers
have power to direct your life.
Upside down thinking at its best.
This code of numbers is yours alone.
Deciphering it requires desire
not a Hollywood mastermind.
You have always known the way out.
© Ali Grimshaw 2016
Second Chances
what must we pay for
our history, a fresh start
seaward in one boat.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
Na/GloPoWriMo – April is National/Global Poetry Writers Month
Haiku Horizons
Wisdom of a sunflower
Her face follows the sun
an anchor of light, trusted to lead while she grew
a warmth of reassurance when her sight was lost
from darkness. A seed born with the knowing
yet unable to realize until the day of blossoming.
She held it all along. Resolve of love, strength to push
through the compacted soil of failure, to stretch
when trampled, to believe in the next dawn
while she remained in the shadow of night.
© Ali Grimshaw 2018 – photo taken on a roadtrip in Spain
“Like sunflowers that stop tracking the sun as they mature, we too begin to respond differently to life as we age. We learn to brave more parts of the day with our heads turned away from the sun, because we realize that we can only know who we are if we let the sun shine behind us and allow it to draw our shadow in front of us, so that we may see how we are really shaped.
We begin to realize how even darkness has its gifts, and how even if we don’t always bask in the light, we can survive.” – When Sunflowers Stop Following The Sun
I was inspired to write this poem after reading this thoughtful article. Never underestimate the power of sharing with careful words.
Between the lines
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.
Unfurl
trusting sunlight, reach
disentangle tight petals
unfurl, face forward
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
24 hours later
Years ago I chose the RULE
24 Hours minimum, before
doing, speaking, before action
24 Hours to steep in the experience
all emotional flavors infused, allowed to cool
to sip consideration of your viewpoint
before I express my own.
My reflection on the gift of time to change our perspective. I also have a poem related to this theme up on Via Brevis today. via EDITOR’S CHOICE: Weather Forecast
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 