What a wonderful activity for Sunday night. I really soaked in these haikus and the community reflecting upon them. With the hope for all living things on our planet being cherished, here is my entry.
Thanks Vita Brevis for bringing us together through poetry.
My poem, The Answers, is up on The Drabble today. It is a reflection from young adulthood and the power of finding your own answers. I am grateful to have my voice shared on another site. The Drabble is a favorite of my mine.
By Ali Grimshaw
They call me adult.
I have learned to apologize, drive a car
mastered spell check to avoid embarrassment.
Yet my days of fevered creation
and re-imagining myself, remain inadequate.
Knowing I know less with each ring of curiosity around my trunk.
Like paint peeling off an old house I am more than one color.
I live as a revolving door to exit and enter,
each time with a different view.
Growing up I believed adults lived in sureness.
Shocked disappointment crashed down
when the truth broke through
with no answers in its hands for me.
Why didn’t mom tell me?
Your separation started with a small knot, then the winding began. Strings of storybooks, twined through nights and days of countless fresh starts, repeating circles. The looping of stories wound through our shared days. Up and down on the life school rollercoaster, back when I used to hold your hand. Our faces in the wind a side by side scream of surprise moments you reached out, adding to yourself adding another layer of becoming. While some saw mangled routes and loose ends I envied your brave expanding, overlapping leaps of curiosity to solidify your center. Now you roll down new streets with layers of perseverance over boyish charm a masterpiece touching lives I will never meet. I hope you never stop winding over that small knot, tied while I watched.
© Ali Grimshaw 2021
This poem is dedicated to my two amazing sons. I am grateful to be your mother.
Grief is unlayering
revisit your core
you are the seeds of hopeResharing this poem as a inspiration to let go for those who are in pain today. Thank you to The Drabble for choosing this poem as one of the Ten Favorite Drabbles of 2016.
By Ali Grimshaw
A crack,
followed by a breaking open.
As the walls fall,
you will no longer be contained,
held separate.
Grieve and they shall crumble,
until the last stone is still
Leaving you in a field of golden openness.
Wide and light,
No need for protection
Bare
In the warm air.
Bio: Ali Grimshaw is a poet and blogger. Her blog called flashlight batteries, https://flashlightbatteries.wordpress.com/, offers hope for those struggling in the darkness and a mirror for tough times in life.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
This poem by Sarah Russell spoke to me. She made every word count. I believe you will find it a keeper.
Just like the dandelion, each of us has the power to define who we are regardless of the labels that others may try to stick on us.
Spike-haired, brass-blonde,
they invade the bluegrass suburbs
where blades form a passive sameness
if tended as intended. They strut
across the green of everyday —
strumpets in tattered leafy skirts,
stiletto roots — bestowing downy favors
on the summer breeze.
– Sarah Russell
First published in Your Daily Poem
Photo Source
hate screams black in fear, with intent
to turn listener to stone or distraction
what you think is the opposition
dressed in defenses worn comfortably
is only, just another
scared, eyes-wide and searching
no different than the face in
your bathroom mirror each morning
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
Your judgmental gaze cannot melt
the lines of my mistakes, they have become
collective beauty I hold as my reward for living
unimaginable shapes to fill with crayoned hues
I am my own coloring book
not available for purchase
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
With all that is currently happening in the U.S. and the world, I feel the need to reshare this poem, Visiting With Chaos.There is an opportunity in the messiness of life. Will we choose to be loving learners or give up to fear?
Thank you to Vita Brevis, The Modern Poetry Magazine for publishing my poem. Click on the link to read it. – Visiting With Chaos
Sending love and a reminder that you are not alone.
Ali
What if you believed it would all work out?
Would your breath come with ease
would you giggle at yourself, delight in the breeze
raise your waving hand, yell out “me too,”
with the aliveness of your five year old self?
Would you skip across the parking lot
dressed in sequins, colors that say, “I have arrived.”
Would you walk long enough to greet the dusk
stepping lightly until it kissed the sky goodnight?
What if you did?
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 