and they signed up to become listeners for the collective
pledging their ears to receive the full telling of each
without rejection of a single tale or truth
a willingness to learn this craft of the heart
essential for survival of the whole
most understood this was more than an occupation
it would become their way of being for a lifetime
to cradle the words of each speaker
holding tender the unthinkable
without judgement
© Ali Grimshaw 2025
Photo taken in Croatia 2023.
In the grocery store parking lot I stopped.
I stopped when I saw her shining above.
What glory, she captivated the sky
and the cold felt fresh, an awakening to
the noticing. The beautiful that no one
can ever take away. The moon, a bright planet
accompanying her, together in the dark
stilled my breath. How lucky that the noticing
still lives within me. So many have forgotten
to look up.
© Ali Grimshaw 2025
In these dark times it is more important than ever to share you light. Sending you mine.
“The storm’s ravages had not only opened her eyes, but her heart and mind as well. What mattered was the present moment. The people she was with. She may never be fully free of the past, and the future might bring more struggle. But the here and now wasn’t a place to hide. It was hers to live.”
– from The Medicine Woman of Galveston by Amanda Skenandore
Distant views calmed her mind
these cliffs, twisted roads, rugged mountains were relatable.
A smooth life could not create this kind of beauty
and once again nature was teaching her how to navigate sorrows.
What remains an obstacle may depend on the point from which she observed the landscape.
Photo taken at Colorado National Monument 2024.
Today in the U.S. we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., and in his honor, I am reflecting on perseverance.
Poetry has arms
to reach beyond borders
stretch across isles
swim channels of shame
while handing our fresh hankies
for tears of lost love.
Poetry has arms
to hold, comfort, and allow
for all to be felt
the sharp, the cut wide open
poetry pushes no one away.
All are welcome
through this doorway.
© Ali Grimshaw 2025
I started writing circles with the desire to reach just a few, share my flashlight, and listen with compassion. The last four years have brought your voices on the breeze, across seas stanzas sailed, flew and walked themselves beyond boundaries. I have heard your hearts.
Throughout my facilitating of writing circles I have witnessed authentic sharing and heartfelt listening. I believe the practice of writing and reflecting together is a powerful agent of change. At an event I attended recently Mark Nepo said, “Global humanity’s health depends on healthy souls keeping the literacy of the heart alive.” This resonated with me. Let’s come together and do this in the writing circle.
Are you curious about exploring possibilities through poems? Are you seeking a sisterhood to write and reflect? Are you wanting a loving space to purposefully pause?
Listening for Possibility – Writing Circle Series With Ali
Three Saturdays: January 25, February 8, February 22, 2025
9:30 – 11:00 am PDT on Zoom
During each session we will listen to poems and each other, listen inward for the needs of the heart and explore the doors we want to open next.
This group will be held to six participants to allow deep listening and sharing.
$75 for the series
Payment through PayPal paypal.me/LIfeByDesignOR or Venmo at Alicia-Grimshaw
Whether you are inspired to join me or not I would love to hear from you. I am looking for ways to be of service to others through writing.
Wishing you wellness and peace,
Ali
Each day a chance
for new green to reach us
for listening to happen in a way
that has never happened before.
For air to clear.
And for us to come together
instead of apart.
For healing to blossom
forgiveness heard, shame shifting
to break the cycle of old chains.
For mirroring your love
revealing how your eyes
have seen me forward.
For rebalancing of Earth and sky
an atmosphere where all living things
breathe without fear of suffocation.
For dormancy to begin again
or throw off its covers
to jump out of bed.
Published in Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women
Editor Gabriela Marie Milton 2022.
This poem rings more true to me than ever. Let's keep creating a vision of love for the future.
Join us at dVerse Poets' Pub for Open Link Night. Share a poem and join in the reading of other's work. You can find us HERE.
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” – John Muir
As I dug deeply down to tuck you in safely, one by one, in softness, grounded for growth with care and wishes for your survival. (Awareness of my lack of qualifications and experience crowded into the activity like a boisterous neighbor who wasn’t invited. “This won’t work. You don’t know what you’re doing.”)
As I put my shovel away, I am thinking about internal resistance. My resistance to planting, to bothering with placing all of you in the earth. My head saying, “You’re doing it wrong. You will be disappointed.” My heart replying, “Let’s try. I need to wonder.”
Now I am pondering, curious actually, what would it be like to live without a belief in planting. Realizing I already know. I have been there and don’t want to go back.
I am seeding a future I cannot see. I am planting hope in the dark cold of winter. This includes garlic cloves and my belief in loving action to grow the next. Stepping into the unknowable with a curious heart that knows it doesn’t always work out and planting it anyway.
Later that day I found three more cloves in my pocket. Three that escaped planting day. Their potential is not lost. I will find time to tuck them to bed too.
Cover them with leaves.
© Ali Grimshaw 2024
Thank you Stephanie Matlock for nurturing my inner farmer and gifting me garlic to plant. You are the Garlic Master! Cobblestone Farms, LLC.
when I feel that nothing matters
I will name it despair
and when a wave comes
I find quiet like
wind on my face
with the passing of the wave through me
(realization like a form of sleep apnea)
my breath returns as a gasp of awareness
unfolding the letting go is part of the wave
the part that reminds me, I am the water too
fighting to keep myself afloat is unnecessary
all depths of love are still finding us
do not fear
© Ali Grimshaw 2024
Here I stand on hope street keeping my hearthope alive.
Before I walk away,
returning to a new season of my life,
let’s rewind this journey
for one last view.
Our thrills, near misses,
and countless conversations melted together,
weaving me into the true color I have become.
Wherever I am
is your home
to come back to.
© Ali Grimshaw 2024
Photo taken in a small town in Colorado. Humans create amazing spaces.
A red geranium
purposefully glowing
among the fallen leaves
lusciously living among the crisp.
It will not
be denied its time of bloom
long past summer's farewell.
I want to be a mark of love on this world
just like that.
© Ali Grimshaw 2024
This week I am challenging myself to grow by speaking with people I don't know with the hope that I will make a heart connection. The world needs each of us to show up. Whatever you have got to give, don't doubt the value of giving it.
Keep shining your light.
Ali
Let's linger
in Autumn glow
befriending dusk on its way
to cloak us with comfort
ease our worries loose
to fall.
Pausing here
we become one with this
seasonal scene of hush
before continuing our saunter
harvesting what matters most
from this day.
© Ali Grimshaw 2024
flashlight batteries - Ali Grimshaw 