Poetry Over Panic Online Writing Group

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 17 Comments

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“Poetry gives you permission to feel.” – James Autry

As the world shifts, I am looking for ways to give. With all the emotions swirling, we are faced with finding healthy ways to process them. Reflective writing using poetry has met that need for me and others I have written with. This is why I have created some group writing circles to provide this for others.

My hope is that, by writing and reflecting together, we can learn from this unusual time, and face it with loving curiosity. It would be especially wonderful to write with others across the globe. If this calls you you please click the link for a free ticket.

Poetry Over Panic: Women’s Writing Circle for Positive Self Reflection

“Poetry provides guidance, revealing what you did not know you knew…” John Fox

We are stronger when we lean on and learn from one another.

Join me as we continue forward into the unexpected.

Love,

Ali

 

End of the Rope – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 21 Comments

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The rope winds gently around my waist,
twisted, smoothly strong by years of mistakes,
trying again, doubt and wondering how.

Thick with memories of others who
believed with the strength of solid ground.
Believed that all earthquakes eventually stop shaking.
Believed in soil’s ability to grow what we need next.

The end of this rope was handed to me long ago.
A generous lifeline offered for free
to keep me on the planet.

Now I look down at the rope in my calloused hands,
threads of the millions, an explosion of frayed ends,
their forgivings, endurance,
the woven learnings of my ancestors.

The rope loops back and around me,
over and over,
then off into the distance.

I don’t need to see the end now
to trust it is anchored deeply somehow.

© Ali Grimshaw 2020

Inspired by William Stafford’s poem “The Way It Is”

dVerse – Final Couplet Prompt

Photo taken in on my last trip, Château de Suscinio in France.

Caremongering – poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 58 Comments

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house to house
neighbor to neighbor
kindness dissemination

this unstoppable virus of care
magical movement spread rampant

the isolated
blanketed with warmth
by open offers, action compassion

waves of encouragement through the window
one errand for survival at a time

an escalation of tenderness

© Ali Grimshaw 2020

dVerse Poets Pub – Quadrille “Magic”

Coronavirus: Kind Canadians start ‘caremongering’ trend By Tom Gerken

Because Now – poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 40 Comments

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on the beach I begin
because now I am ready
and so are you

to turn our fear into fuel
build a bonfire to bring warmth
for all now sitting in cold darkness

I start with kindling of prejudice
add sticks of anger
a log of fear
a heavy round of anxiety
watch the flames ignite to hot glow

come close and sit with me now
add your logs to this burning pyre
hate and terror blaze brightly with heat
finally an efficient use for their energy

let’s watch
as flames of love
devour all that we
believe we cannot face
to singe away, char and reform
all that has been holding us back

love knows how to transform
create a burning
to warm us all through
this dark night.

come to the beach
now we are ready

© Ali Grimshaw 2020

I’m Gonna Walk It With You

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 32 Comments

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“Well it looks like it might be a hard road but I’m gonna walk it with you.
And you know that you might have a heavy load but I can carry some too.”

This song is carrying me forward. I am learning the words. I am singing out even when my voice doesn’t sound pretty. Music heals and keeps us breathing. Sing yourself through the day. Here is the Youtube video. “I’m Gonna Walk It With You” by Brian Claflin and Ellie Grace

All of us
together
while separate
singing softly, for life
as we walk this road
let’s share the load
come together, while apart
in love.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2020

Sending love to all those who are scared, worried, sheltering in place. Please let me know how you are doing. I am available to listen and write with you via skype, facetime or whatsapp. Together we will get through this.

Pep Talk – poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 41 Comments

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“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa

Show up.
Be your
unique colors.
That’s enough.

Even when you doubt.
Even when you think it won’t work.
Even when you’re scared.

Show up.
That’s enough.

Those that came before
did just that.
Day after day
after day.

Show up.
Stand up.
Speak up.

Stop to listen from your heart.

Breathe.
You are ok.

Now repeat.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2020

Photo taken in NYC July 2019

dVerse Poets Pub – Lists Challenge

Singing through the cracks

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 24 Comments
Image may contain: outdoor, possible text that says 'Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in. Leonard Cohen LIFE' A DANCETM'

And they sang
through the cracks of pain
through the wandering worries
through the regrets, determined desires
to be true to their calling hearts.

And they sang
because song was needed
because together their voices lifted
because all else didn’t make sense
because they could.

And others joined the circle

and they sang.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2020

The River Knows – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

Quote ~ ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 71 Comments

“I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
– John Muir

In slowing my pace to lightly step
I saw the power of the hummingbird
defeating the odds again
to fly, even though science says it shouldn’t be able.

I leaned on the elder tree that stood through hurricanes.
Touched sprouts forcing through cracked concrete.
Studied a cactus with magenta bloom
in the desperate dry landscape.

Outside I found my mentors.

Along singing creek waters, trails of bright birdsong
and pausing in cliffside meadows where the ocean roars.

I heard the strength of the outside.

The river knows where it is going
and I will follow it.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2020

photo by antilandscpaper 2-26-20

Hummingbirds have been baffling scientists for years. Matt Ransford commented, “The hummingbird is an animal that by all rights shouldn’t be able to fly” (Popular Science). But not only can this bird fly, it is the only bird able to fly forwards, backward, up, down, sideways, upside down, and even hover. – Mar 23, 2012

dVerse Open Link Night

Temporary – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 57 Comments

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Your phrases landed
on the floor between us.
I didn’t know how to catch them.

Your breathless words carried
a story of near miss.
One collection of minutes
that almost
restructured my life.

Like flower petals
blown away by the wind
altering forever

their attachment
to the stem.

Never again to unite in bloom’s beauty.

A reminder of
the impermanence of us.

© Alicia Grimshaw 2020 (Rewrite of a poem shared in 2017)

dVerse prompt – Poetics: Impermanence

Life in a suitcase

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 33 Comments

Their voices
Peeling memories away
layers of lives left littered

one packed suitcase
one hope
one chance

Back across the sea
buildings without occupancy
echoes through rooms
call them back home

Here they are
far from the familiar
family table and
some are missing

© Ali Grimshaw 2020

dVerse Quadrille #98

This poem was inspired by this article. Interview: Artists Rebuild Refugees’ Emotional Memories of “Home” Inside Suitcases By Jessica Stewart

Scale Model of Abandoned Home

“Working together with writer Ahmed Badr, architect and sculpture artist Mohamad Hafez listened to the stories of refugee families living in America and helped shine a light on their experiences. As two former refugees themselves—Hafez from Syria and Badr from Iraq—this is an issue close to their hearts. The result is Unpacked, an emotional multi-media installation where the voices of each family tell their experiences as viewers engage with an incredible scale model of the homes they’ve left behind.”

“Each model, created by Hafez, is packed into a suitcase as a symbol of the baggage these families carry forward into their new lives.  As Hafez listened carefully during the interviews, which often ran six to seven hours, he was sketching what he heard. Using what he discovered, he was able to mold their memories into a visual representation that leaves no question about the dire circumstances these refugees faced.”

Unpacked will be on view at the University of Madison-Wisconsin – February 5, 2020 to March 15, 2020.