© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
“In spite of the flames of tragedy, a poem is a glowing ember, making visible the power of hope, and the human spirit. We must not only read and watch, we are called by the poet to bring the flame back to the ember, to do what we can to help people not only to survive, but to thrive.” – Why Poetry Matters from Huffington Post
© Alicia Grimshaw 201
Something other than sleep
more like jumping into water of coolness.
Not dreamland, but renewal of returning,
more like the thrill of meeting someone new,
in the skin of an old friend.
Diversion from daily tunnels of thought.
When was the last time your bare feet felt
the smooth tile of the lobby?
The feel of breath leaving your body
an elevator going down
a return to the ground floor.
An entrance to rest.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
Photo from Pixabay
True words
are unsinkable
they rise to the top
like oil on the surface.
The rocks you tied to them
never enough weight to drown
what you didn’t want shared, temporarily
kept hidden under your tongue.
True words will escape, eventually
Your enclosed truth
held hostage by fear
wants to fly.
Let it.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017 Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Inspired by Monday Mantras and the word MANTRA -The literal Chinese translation of the word mantra is “true words.” Seek your truth and let this unique manta guide you through the week. Mine is “Trust the journey.”
Her only precious possession was morning.
The first few seconds upon waking,
feet still in the land of the dreaming.
Those few sacred moments of stillness
before the world around surrounded her
reappearing in predictable sound and color
to force her into the structured daylight
a day when she was to lead
the one expected of her.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
Photo taken on my trip to Italy, summer 2016.
Waking to a foreign experience
like a transplanted language
that spread through the city while I slept.
I used to trust myself to know the way
right turn, then straight, always on course.
Within my country, I thought I knew where I was.
Now my GPS offers no help. No translation available.
Consistent landscape. Buildings in place
yet unrecognizable to my inner navigation.
My compass now cracked, unable to orient
true North now lies
inside me.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Discovery Challenge – Conventional Wisdom
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Who decides where you fit in?
Walking into a room full of others
feeling like you don’t belong, not one of them.
Severed, the other, a misfit.
Open faces smile, glance your way.
But you have already closed the door
on belonging.
Doors open both ways. Exit this one.
Return again with this knowing
you are not held separate. Proving your worth
was never a requirement. The family of all things*
has been waiting for you.
Take this place, a space saved just for you.
Anywhere in the room will work.
Acceptance comes from inside.
* Acknowledgement to Mary Oliver’s words from her poem “Wild Geese”
© Ali Grimshaw 2016 (photo taken on the Oregon coast.)
I will write you blue sky
sunlight on yellow flowers.
I will write you a single snowflake
magnified in all its delicate brilliance.
I will write you a cocoon of comfort
a blanket of love you have never known
a full envelope, arriving on the wind, for the day
you need it most.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2016
Photo taken on a family trip to Italy 2016.
Between each breath
one, maybe two seconds at most,
a tiny space of nothingness.
My passport can’t get me there.
Driving faster, running harder,
multitasking while eating lunch
working later, doing more…
no closer to my destination.
“Where would you like to travel to?” they ask.
someplace between
inhale
and exhale.
© Ali Grimshaw
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 