Thank you Vita Brevis

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 28 Comments

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Thank you to Brian Geiger at Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine for sharing my voice this week by publishing, Transient. Click on the title to give it a read and while you are there savor some of the words from amazing poets.

Vita Brevis Press is a small publisher dedicated to emerging and established poets, circulating their work in an online magazine and in physical anthologies. The Vita Brevis Poetry Magazinepublishes some of the best emerging poets out there, pairing their work with tonally relevant artwork.

Tender – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 39 Comments

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why are we so afraid of

the tender, exposure of

inside, gently cradled by

toughness skinned over

unconscious callousness

from days of survival,

thick with not letting

anyone in, to touch

the real, born within us.

© Ali Grimshaw 2019

The Tenderness Project

THE TENDERNESS PROJECT IS AN EXPERIMENT IN RADICAL EMPATHY CURATED BY ROSS GAY AND SHAYLA LAWSON. IT RECOGNIZES THE TENDERNESSES THAT APPEAR IN THE MARGINS AND LIGHTS THESE TINY SPACES.

Tandem – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 12 Comments
photo of bicycle parked beside wooden door
Photo by Ali Arapoğlu on Pexels.com
Head down, back bent
climbing back into yourself
fear perspires on your forehead.
Looks like you could use a lift.
Travel forward with me
I will steer for awhile.
You can coast.
I will pedal out the questions.
You can consider answers.
Life can be different
on a bicycle built for two.
First published on Versewrights.
© Ali Grimshaw 2019
​

Call to service – July 4

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 20 Comments

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I notice,
I remember,
yet I have no idea
what you gave for
my freedoms.

I see,
I listen for,
those without,
who don’t
have freedom yet.

I pray,
that we never stop,
reaching toward each other
with open hands.

© Ali Grimshaw 2019

Happy July 4th.
Let’s not let the past stop us from creating the future.

Departure – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 37 Comments

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At the seasonal station
the train of life only pauses
departure depends on your duration
illusion of control blankets nature’s causes.

Days to nights shift and the engineer steers
hibernating bunks of linked sleepers softly
breathe away their past selves
rhythm of the planet moves through the years.

Travelers lulled to comforted right
cycle of no endings, wheels freely spin
balance tipped toward the night
untouchable by human error, solstice arrives again.

© Ali Grimshaw 2019

dVerse – Quatrain

Handwritten – poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 45 Comments

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What if I wrote what could not be asked
the inappropriate bold words, or a question
that made you cringe slightly with wonder.
Left it on your desk, scented paper
inside an envelope that you would need to choose
to open or not, wondering who it could be from
unmarked, with just your cursive name penned upon
the front. Leaving you to hesitate with the thrill
of good or bad news to come.

© Ali Grimshaw 2019

Unwind – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 35 Comments

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Think in reverse

months tip, like dominos

to revisit that summer day.

Longing for this cleansing pool,

an offering of chilled calmness

encircled by stone.

Here I joined the river

of slow movement

strumming my heartstrings

plucking the notes ever slower

pulse dissolving

until I was

just being

water.

© Ali Grimshaw (rewrite)

d’Verse (OLN)

 

Conclusion

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 27 Comments

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When something ends
the road behind washed away
the tightrope cut
the plane in flight
before forward lights have appeared
illuminating the next.

When something ends
what is the point in cramming your feet
into the shoes of the past?
Unless you want to walk in pain.

When something ends
after the sobbing,
and grief has dried up.

That’s when you know,
that’s when you finally know
the word
precious
for the first time.

© Ali Grimshaw 2019