Coddiwomple – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

March 5, 2023 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 24 Comments

“Turn and go back to the last thing

you remember doing

with your whole heart.”

– Joyce Sutphen


Even without a roadmap
I can follow the song
of my heart's direction.

Sing along while keen 
to its increase.

Turning in time
so as not to lose 
the melodic trail.

Ears intent on my 
wholeness of being

Filtering freefalling notes
once lost
easing my ache
of confusion.

© Ali Grimshaw 2023

Coddiwomple (v.) Origin: English Slang Word.Definition: To travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination.

earthweal open link weekend
Join us to share and connect.

Poems from the Circle

January 24, 2021 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 13 Comments

My dream is to create a safe space for you to explore the words that live inside you. Holding this listening space is one of the times I feel most alive. Our lives are enriched by reflectively listening to ourselves and others. It takes courage to reveal yourself and it is worth it.

Louise Gallagher is yet another amazing human that I wouldn’t have met without her taking a chance to share in the circle. Thank you, Louise, for your permission to share your artful poem here. It has been a gift to hear your words arrive and observe them unfurling over the past several weeks. Louise is a creativity activist, visual story-teller, mixed-media artist, writer, mentor, coach. You can find more of her poetry and beautiful creations at dareboldly.com

Writing together provides a mirror for us to process life in a safe place. Click here for information about my next Sunday writing circle.

Life in a suitcase

February 24, 2020February 24, 2020 ~ 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.

If Poets Ruled The World

September 22, 2018December 7, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 28 Comments

If you brought poetry to your exhale

how would you breathe?

If you brought poetry to your cooking

how would it taste?

If you brought poetry to your singing

how would it sound?

If we brought poetry to the conversation

what would we hear?

Would we notice the moan of wind outside our arguments

that the water from the pipes is at a trickle, our absent neighbors

don’t stand in the front yard anymore, weeds thrive

overtaking the edible garden, while last year’s birdhouse

remains empty? A muffled fear

like cotton balls in our ears.

If I lived poetry

could I see the heart

underneath your skin?

“Poetry, whether the writing itself is explicitly political or not, always seeks a better way to respond, to think, to live.” – E. Ce Miller, writer, journalist

Sharing this great quote from Moorezart

Right by your side

August 25, 2018August 24, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 13 Comments

you beside, never

behind, together we face

forward fearlessly.

CWW Photo Challenge

Senryu

unpuzzling the enemy

July 31, 2018July 31, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 10 Comments

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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

Quadrille #61 – dVerse Poets Pub

Not for purchase

July 23, 2018August 4, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 19 Comments

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

Option – a thing that is or may be chosen

July 15, 2018July 21, 2018 ~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 28 Comments

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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?