dVerse haibun

Equinox – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 47 Comments

During this one day of balanced light, I feel a lack of evenness. I’m ok with this. Acceptance has befriended me. I used to believe in a balanced lifestyle. I pushed and pulled my daily life to create this ideal. Now I am no longer focused on this achievement. Instead, I am chasing aliveness like a kite must feel the wind. I wish for floating and exhilaration to be part of my journey but I don’t expect it always. I am no longer keeping score of ups and downs and the need for them to equal out weekly. I am taking it as it comes with the hopeful intention of keeping my noticing alive. My noticing of a leaf color like a work of art. My noticing the clouds visiting the sky. My noticing of the tender light of dusk turning even the harsh landscapes golden. Tomorrow will hold a little more darkness yet some nights there will be stars.

tilt neither toward, nor away

acceptance lights us

tonight darkness leans closer

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

Join us at dVerse for a celebration of Haibun Monday: Equinox. HERE

A Beautiful Noticing – Poem by Ali Grimshaw

~ Ali Grimshaw ~ 25 Comments

Precious is the quiet morning when I sit to breathe, just breathe. The highway hum in the distance, accompanied by a faint unknown rumble, and the caws of a bird, are heard in this stillness. How often does the environment around me go unnoticed as I am going about my day? The box of my mind has me doing and going. The senses of my body are left behind. Every time I stop, and return to my breath throughout the day, I return to a conscious noticing. It is then that I return to my body. My arms, my legs, my heart, and my mind are one again. There is a relief in just breathing.

When I first tried meditation is was unaccessible. Stillness did not feel safe. Letting go was scary. I lived in protection mode and this surrender to motionless living was a foreign land. Bit by bit I have found peaceful connection and I am grateful for all the guides who have helped me along the way. 

constricted muscles
seek winter sunlight, birds perch 
pause to exhale pain

© Ali Grimshaw 2024

Join me at dVerse Poets' Pub for
Haibun Monday 1-29-24: Breath

Photo taken during our most recent ice storm. It is a close up of the beautiful frost on my bathroom window.