love is an open space
not yet filled place
a hand reaching out
ready
without expectation
large, tiny, tattooed, wrinkled
skin darker or lighter
held out to you
love is there
if you return the
reach.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
#Loveuary and Love Day Blog Party at But I Smile Anyway…
In the solitude of these chambers
my heart remembers how to breathe.
Cool air pulled in, an inflation of freedom
expansion completed. To rise and fall,
again, again, again…
My internal rhythm,
muscles in unison,
ceaselessly at work,
to fill me from toes to earlobes,
without my acknowledgement
or praise.
An intake of peaceful,
taken for granted,
to keep this heart beating
another day.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Celebrate #Loveuary with the blog But I Smile Anyway
“How do you keep your heart whole?” he asked. “I can’t bear the breaking.”
“You don’t,” she whispered. “Let it crack open,
like a ruby pomegranate full of moments you have been alive.
Tear away the soft sides, let the jeweled pieces scatter.
They will be found. Picked up by the parched,
carried forward into days where hearts
will be strong enough to break, expand.”
“I am not that strong.” he said, shaking his head.
Tearing off a part of her own heart.
“Take some of my mine, you will be.”
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Today I wrote a gift for you
my pen pulled my hand along, (it is braver than I)
it knows how to lay my heart wide open,
like a prairie to the sky
nowhere to hide, expansive and still
miles from adequate for what I wish to give.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
February is the month of love. I will be celebrating with love poems all month long.
#Loveuary – inspired by Ritu at But I Smile Anyway…
Photo credit to Nicolas T.
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
Dressed in white, they gather
a sacred opening, shared hush
They lean in to listen for what is to come.
My eyes honored guests to witness their glory.
One of few who will attend this party today.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Not qualified, no certificate, diploma
just a person, regular, no one special.
Who me? I don’t know how. Where would I start?
Listen. Open your heart. Look. Open your eyes.
An opportunity right in front of you. Yes, right there.
It won’t matter. I don’t count. It’s too late.
No one ever tires of a rainbow coming through the clouds.
Your colors impossible to see from an internal view
vivid in the eyes of those waiting.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
Dr. Maya Angelou – Thank you for reminding me that I can be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud and to take all the rainbows of my life with me wherever I go.
Rainbow photo thanks to pixabay.com/en/rainbow-kelvenne-national-park-1372108/
As we stand together
the ocean’s roar a comfort
lullaby of constant.
You squeeze my hand.
I echo the motion.
Reliable rolling waves,
we count on
when the world is crashing.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
The Daily Post Photo Challenge – Ambience
What do you hold onto
when the bottom drops out
leaving you foundationless?
Your roof carried away by a tornado.
Left only with blankness and a pen
you forgot was in your hand.
I draw myself a new house
windows of openness, a tin roof to hear rain
a welcome door without requirements
with the hope that you feel safe enough to visit.
Uncensored, just as you are not
when you leave the premises.
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
© Ali Grimshaw 2017
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 