Painted leaves sing in unison. Unlike music, their song is soundless harmony. This orchestra of glow soothes the tempo of an internal pounding from a day of instruments that refused to play the same song. Fall will catch you with muted volume a serenade of equilibrium while watercolored leaves hold you in a nest of rest. © Alicia Grimshaw (rewrite of 2018 poem) Join a friendly community of poets at dVerse Poets Pub for Open Link Night HERE
They don't need to be your favorite one. You don't need to justify them to anyone. One could arrive before getting out of bed or a memory that brings warmth. One could be a warm shower, the relief of crying or standing under a clear sky. One could be a deep breath, a complete filling of lungs or the priviledge of not know what time it is. A window to a neighbor who grow flowers or someone who listens when your words stumble. Birdsong mornings, soft landings of wooded paths freedom to choose, relief of laughter, steady rib bones to protect a still beating heart. There are always 3 good things if you choose them they are yours to hold. ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 During the first year of the pandemic I began to paint rocks that said, "3 good things." I left them randomly around my neighborhood as I walked and ran. My intention was to remind myself and those around me to think of "3 good things" in their day. I began to text friends and family asking them to share their "3 good things." Somewhere along the way I forgot about this action. I stopped doing it. Finding this photo today reminded me how simple and rewarding this was. And I am choosing to begin again. If you feel inspired please share your "3 good things" with me.
Transitions are in the air... some are leaving the nest for flight. As you join the others a new word grows inside me, a tight bundled joypain sits within my chest cracking open to release the scent of baby powered damp hair for the many practiced days have passed the next migration is a solo flight. Your sturdy shoulders of readiness experimental charm accompanied with grin will be a gift many will appreciate. Your graduation to come is a forced exhale and I breathe in the flight to come. Shake off the illusion, you were never really mine from the start. You have always belonged to to the world. I was always ever the warm nest from which you would someday fly. ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 Join a welcoming community for Open Link Night at dVerse. HERE Dedicated to all parents of graduates. Yes, part of your heart is stepping out into the world to touch the lives of others. Let it go. Part of it will stay with you forever. What a privilege to experience this amazing journey of expanding love. Congratulations.
“A river no more begins at its source
than a story begins with the first page.“
– Once Upon A River
I am honored to have two new poems included in the anthology Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women. This highly anticipated anthology, edited by Gabriela Marie Milton (Short Prose) and published by Ingrid Wilson (Experiments in Fiction), debuts in early June 2022. Thank you so much, Gabriela and Ingrid, for all your efforts to bring these poems of strength to the world. I am excited to hold them in my hands.
1. Ease your body into a warm bath, stay long enough to forget why its ending and how time ever mattered. 2. Get your shovel plant your tears along with faith flower seeds for tomorrow's sky brightening. 3. Climb to the roof, listen for birds from a different perspective notice the variation in song brings clearer thoughts. 4. Wander while feeling solid ground, allow disappointment to flee your swinging arms until lightness of hope arrives. 5. Leave yourself behind the one that didn't believe your worth. Buy yourself colored pencils, new sneakers. ©Ali Grimshaw 2022 For the 18th day of Na/GloPoWriMo - “Five Answers to the Same Question.” Photo taken in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
if I could hand out
flying with clouds, beyond pain,
relief your eyes seek
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
© 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
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
what you had always assumed
to be solid, now soggy sadness
water warped windows with
a view misguided, bended
memories altered the truth
will you forgive yourself
for all that was unseen before?
© Alicia Grimshaw 2018
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 