The tree colors sing in unison
settle my rattled soul
unlike any music
ever heard.
This orchestra of leaves
soothes the tempo
that pounds from a
day of instruments
that refused to play
the same song.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
blog
Axis Tilt
Could this be the final day
of an autumn that I thought would last?
A mellowing of red between us
once crackling emotions now dust bits
collected in a whirling dervish
carried away in the wind.
Now I am an empty street waiting
for the street light to click on.
Predictable and ever awed
by the chance
to begin again.
© Alicia Grimshaw Reposting from 2016
Emotional Gravity
Awakened to the heaviness. A push
to breathe through a cage too small.
Despair sits on her chest, hands over her mouth.
Alone on this journey, he is no companion
just a magnetic pull toward the mattress
that she wishes never to leave.
He knows what others do not.
That she can’t put it down.
An unseeable stone she carries alone.
How much easier to be pulled under
than to keep afloat.
A desire for lightness like dust
in a ray of light.
If she only knew
invisible hands surround.
Waiting. Just waiting.
For her to say the word.
Help.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
National Suicide Prevention Week September 10 – 16, 2017
http://stopasuicide.org/index.php
Reach out. Listen. You could save a life.
Waiting
I remain
steadfast
on the shoreline
tethered, weathered
yet still afloat.
My life preserver
ready to be thrown
your way.
Waiting
for your signal.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
National Suicide Prevention Week September 10 – 16, 2017
http://stopasuicide.org/index.php
Reach out. You could save a life.
Photo Challenge – Waiting Photo taken in Varenna Italy, 2016.
Temporary – Poem by Ali Grimshaw
Your phrases landed on the floor
between us. I didn’t know how to catch them.
Strings of words, a story of near miss.
One collection of minutes that almost
restructured my life, like petals
blown away by the wind
never again to unite in beauty.
A reminder of the impermanence of us.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
Around the Corner
She overcame
her internal screaming toddler,
“I don’t wanna. I don’t wanna.”
Will Power offered a hand
linking her arm in his
to lead around the corner.
Her first step through
this now open door
a route unavailable
to her past self.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
Photo taken in Lisbon, Portugal 2017
A Mindful Vacation
I am resharing this poem today in honor of National Relaxation Day. One long slow breath. Try it out.
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
Are you willing?
Beyond imagination.
Outside of your current image.
Your reflection lies in the eyes of others.
The eyes of those that surround
looking back at you.
See yourself there
to know where you are heading.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
Regretting
Sometimes a regret comes back to life
to emerge as a poem
morphing as it translates into words
pain blossoming
on a single stem.
Each petal overlapping
some parts me
some parts you
forming an image fixed in time
an elixir of us
I drink in
to set us both free.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2016
Nose Above Water
Just enough oxygen.
Not a breath more,
than what is needed
for life to continue.
Her body floats in liquid blue.
Hair feathered out
on the surface like tentacles
reaching for a firm grip,
a holdfast,
to keep from
going
under.
© Alicia Grimshaw 2017
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 